The 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 was an American self-propelled artillery vehicle produced during World War II. It was given the official service name 105 mm Self Propelled Gun, Priest by the British Army, due to the pulpit-like machine gun ring, and following on from the Bishop and the contemporary Deacon self-propelled guns.

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U.S. Army observers realized that they would need a self-propelled artillery vehicle with sufficient firepower to support armored operations. Lessons learned with half-tracks (such as the T19 Howitzer Motor Carriage (HMC) with a 105mm howitzer on the M3 Half-track chassis) also showed that this vehicle would have to be armored and fully tracked. It was decided to use the M3 Leechassis as the basis for this new vehicle design, named T32.[3] The pilot vehicles used the M3 chassis with an open-topped superstructure, mounting an M1A2 105 mm howitzer, with a machine-gun added after trials. The T32 was accepted for service as the M7 in February 1942 and production began that April. The British Tank Mission had requested 2,500 to be delivered by the end of 1942 and a further 3,000 by the end of 1943, an order which was never fully completed.[4][5]

As the M4 Sherman tank replaced the M3, it was decided to continue production using the M4 chassis (the M4 chassis was a development of the M3). The M7 was subsequently supplanted by the M37 HMC (on the "Light Combat Team" chassis that also gave the M24 Chaffee light tank).[5] While the first M7s were produced for the U.S. Army, some were diverted to support the British in North Africa. Ninety M7s were sent to the Eighth Army in North Africa, which was also the first to use it, during the Second Battle of El Alamein, along with the Bishop, a self-propelled gun based on the 87.6 mm calibre Ordnance QF 25-pounder gun-howitzer.[6]

The British had logistical problems with the M7, as it used U.S. ammunition that was not compatible with other British guns and had to be supplied separately.[6] The problem was resolved in 1943 with the Sexton, developed by the Canadians on a M3 chassis, using the standard British QF 25-pounder.[3] The British used the M7 throughout the North African and Italian campaigns. The 3rd and 50th British, and 3rd Canadian divisions that landed on Sword, Juno and Gold beaches at the start of the Allied invasion of Normandy had their artillery regiments equipped with the M7; these were replaced by the standard towed 25-pounder guns of the infantry in early August.[7][8] The M7 was also used in Burma and played a significant part in the Battle of Meiktila and the advance on Rangoon in 1945. After the Sexton appeared, most British M7s were converted into "Kangaroo" armored personnel carriers.

During the Battle of the Bulge, each U.S. armored division had three battalions of M7s, giving them unparalleled mobile artillery support.[9] A total of 3,489 M7s and 826 M7B1s were built and they proved to be reliable weapons, continuing to see service in the U.S. and allied armies well past World War II.[1][10]

M7 Priests remained in use during the Korean War, where their flexibility, compared to towed artillery units, led the U.S. Army on the path to converting fully to self-propelled howitzers.[11] The limited gun elevation of the M7 (35 degrees) hampered its ability to shoot over the tall Korean mountains, so 127 M7B1s were modified to permit the full 65 degrees elevation in a model known as the M7B2. After the Korean war, many of these were exported to NATO countries, notably Italy and Germany.[12]

Israel acquired a number of M7 Priests during the 1960s and employed them in the Six Day War, the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War. In the latter conflict, three M7 units, the 822nd, 827th and 829th Battalions in the IDF Northern Command, supported the occupation of the Golan Heights.[13]

The first M7s produced were based on modified M3 Lee medium tank chassis. To maintain a low silhouette, the howitzer elevation had to be restricted to 35°. In May 1942, after only a month of production, the vehicle was altered to increase its ammunition stowage from 57 to 69 rounds. This was achieved by placing seven rounds on the left wall and five on the right.[1] The M7 also went through a fairly rapid shift from being based on the M3, to having more commonality with the M4 Sherman. The first major example was an adoption of the M4's three-piece housing, single-piece casting and suspension. In British service, some M7s carried a radio set, which took the place of 24 rounds of ammunition.[10]

M7B1

Completing the shift, the M7B1 was fully based on the M4A3 Sherman chassis. 826 M7B1 were produced from March 1944 to February 1945.[1]

M7B2

During the Korean War, the limited elevation of the howitzer became noticeably problematic. 127 M7B1 were modified to permit an elevation of 65° to increase the effective range of the howitzer. The machine gun mount also had to be raised to give a 360° firing arc.[1]

A Canadian armored personnel carrier conversion of the M7 for use by British and Commonwealth units in northern Europe.[16] The Kangaroo could carry 20 infantry plus a crew of two. A total of 102 were converted between October 1944 and April 1945. The name "Kangaroo" became generic for all conversions of armored fighting vehicles into personnel carriers, including Ram tank conversions.[10]

A British self-propelled gun armed with the Ordnance QF 25-pounder in design from 1941 was nicknamed Bishop as its appearance was said to resemble a bishop's mitre and a replacement, the US 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7, was called "Priest", as part of its superstructure was said to resemble a pulpit. Following this line of names, a 1942 self-propelled gun armed with the QF 6 pounder was named Deacon and a 1943 carrier weapon with the QF 25-pounder was called Sexton.

1.
Self-propelled artillery
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Self-propelled artillery is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move towards its target. Within the term are covered self-propelled guns and rocket artillery and they are high mobility vehicles, usually based on continuous tracks carrying either a large howitzer, field gun, a mortar or some form of rocket or missile launcher. They are usually used for long-range indirect bombardment support on the battlefield, in the past, self-propelled artillery has included direct-fire vehicles, such as assault guns and tank destroyers. These have been heavily armoured vehicles, the former providing close fire-support for infantry, modern self-propelled artillery vehicles may superficially resemble tanks, but they are generally lightly armoured, too lightly to survive in direct-fire combat. However, they protect their crews against shrapnel and small arms and are usually included as armoured fighting vehicles. Many are equipped with guns for defense against enemy infantry. The key advantage of self-propelled over towed artillery is that it can be brought into action much faster, before the towed artillery can be used, it has to stop, unlimber and set up the guns. To move position, the guns must be limbered up again, by comparison, self-propelled artillery can stop at a chosen location and begin firing almost immediately, then quickly move on to a new position. This shoot-and-scoot ability is useful in a mobile conflict and particularly on the advance. Conversely, towed artillery was and remains cheaper to build and maintain and it is also lighter and can be taken to places that self-propelled guns cannot reach. Since the Vietnam War, heavy transport helicopters have also used for rapid artillery deployment. So, despite the advantages of the artillery, towed guns remain in the arsenals of many modern armies. During the Thirty Years War, early 17th century experiments were made with early types of horse artillery, batteries towed light field guns where most or all of the crew rode horses into battle. The gunners were trained to quickly dismount, deploy the guns and provide instant fire support to cavalry, the Russian army organized small units of horse artillery that were distributed among their cavalry formations in the early 18th century. While not forming large batteries and employing only lighter 2- and 3-pound guns, they were still effective and this inspired Frederick the Great to organize the first regular horse artillery unit in 1759. The British Gun Carrier Mark I was the first example of a self-propelled gun and it was based on the first tank, the British Mark I and carried a heavy field gun. The gun could either be fired from the vehicle, or removed, in effect, the carrier replaced the use of a separate horse team or internal combustion engine powered artillery tractor, and allowed a new way for the gun to be used. The next major advance can be seen in the Birch gun developed by the British for their motorised warfare experimental brigade after the end of the War

2.
United States Army
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The United States Army is the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces and performs land-based military operations. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784, the United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775. As a uniformed service, the Army is part of the Department of the Army. As a branch of the forces, the mission of the U. S. The branch participates in conflicts worldwide and is the major ground-based offensive and defensive force of the United States, the United States Army serves as the land-based branch of the U. S. Section 3062 of Title 10, U. S, the army was initially led by men who had served in the British Army or colonial militias and who brought much of British military heritage with them. As the Revolutionary War progressed, French aid, resources, a number of European soldiers came on their own to help, such as Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, who taught Prussian Army tactics and organizational skills. The army fought numerous pitched battles and in the South in 1780–81 sometimes used the Fabian strategy and hit-and-run tactics, hitting where the British were weakest, to wear down their forces. Washington led victories against the British at Trenton and Princeton, but lost a series of battles in the New York and New Jersey campaign in 1776, with a decisive victory at Yorktown, and the help of the French, the Continental Army prevailed against the British. After the war, though, the Continental Army was quickly given land certificates, State militias became the new nations sole ground army, with the exception of a regiment to guard the Western Frontier and one battery of artillery guarding West Points arsenal. However, because of continuing conflict with Native Americans, it was realized that it was necessary to field a trained standing army. The War of 1812, the second and last war between the United States and Great Britain, had mixed results. After taking control of Lake Erie in 1813, the U. S. Army seized parts of western Upper Canada, burned York and defeated Tecumseh, which caused his Western Confederacy to collapse. Following U. S. victories in the Canadian province of Upper Canada, British troops, were able to capture and burn Washington, which was defended by militia, in 1814. Two weeks after a treaty was signed, Andrew Jackson defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans and Siege of Fort St. Philip, U. S. troops and sailors captured HMS Cyane, Levant, and Penguin in the final engagements of the war. Per the treaty, both sides, the United States and Great Britain, returned to the status quo. Both navies kept the warships they had seized during the conflict, the armys major campaign against the Indians was fought in Florida against Seminoles. It took long wars to defeat the Seminoles and move them to Oklahoma

3.
Argentine Army
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The Argentine Army is the land armed force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of the country. Under the Argentine Constitution, the President of Argentina is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the Armys official foundation date is May 29,1810, four days after the Spanish colonial administration in Buenos Aires was overthrown. Several armed expeditions were sent to the Upper Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile to fight Spanish forces and secure Argentinas newly gained independence. The most famous of these expeditions was the one led by General José de San Martín, however, the Army was briefly re-unified during the war with the Brazilian Empire. It was only with the establishment of a Constitution and a government recognized by all the provinces that the Army became a single force. The Army went on to fight the War of the Triple Alliance in the 1860s together with Brazil, after that war, the Army became involved in Argentinas Conquista del Desierto, the campaign to occupy Patagonia and root out the natives, who conducted looting raids throughout the country. The Army prevented the fall of the government in a number of Radical-led uprisings, meanwhile, the military in general and the Army in particular contributed to develop Argentinas unsettled southern frontier and its nascent industrial complex. The main foreign influence during this period was, by and large, partly because of that, during both World Wars most of the officers supported the Germans, more or less openly, while the Argentine Navy favored the British instead. In 1930, a group of Army forces deposed President Hipólito Yrigoyen without much response from the rest of the Army. This was the beginning of a history of political intervention by the military. Another coup, in 1943, was responsible for bringing an obscure colonel into the political limelight and it should be noted that political infighting eroded discipline and cohesion within the army, to the extent that there was armed fighting between contending military units during the early 1960s. The military government which ruled Argentina between 1966 and 1973 saw the activities of groups such as Montoneros and the ERP. During Héctor Cámporas first months of government, a moderate and left-wing Peronist, approximatively 600 social conflicts, strikes. But Isabel Perón herself was ousted during the March 1976 coup by a military junta, batallón de Inteligencia 601 became infamous during this period. It was a military intelligence service set up in the late 1970s, active in the Dirty War and Operation Condor. Its personnel collected information on and infiltrated guerrilla groups and human rights organisations, the unit also participated in the training of Nicaraguan Contras with US assistance, including from John Negroponte. It started the campaign with no more than 100 men and women of the Marxist ERP guerrilla force and ended with about 300 in the mountains, which the Argentine Army managed to defeat, but at a cost. On 5 January 1975, an Army DHC-6 transport plane was downed near the Monteros mountains, all thirteen on board were killed

4.
Belgian army
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The Land Component is the land-based branch of the Belgian Armed Forces. The current chief of staff of the Land Component is Major-General Jean-Paul Deconinck, for a detailed history of the Belgian Army from 1830 to post 1945 see Belgian Armed Forces. Ranks in use by the Belgian Army are listed at Belgian military ranks, at the outbreak of war this reorganisation was nowhere near complete and only 117,000 men could be mobilised for the field forces, with the other branches equally deficient. In this way the King secured his control of the command, 4th Division - Namur and Charleroi. In addition, there were garrisons at Antwerp, Liège and Namur, each division contained three mixed brigades, one cavalry regiment, and one artillery regiment, as well as various support units. Each infantry regiment contained three battalions, with one regiment in each brigade having a company of six guns. An artillery regiment had three batteries of four guns, the nominal strength of a division varied from 25,500 to 32,000 all ranks, with a total strength of eighteen infantry battalions, a cavalry regiment, eighteen machine-guns, and forty-eight guns. Two divisions each had an artillery regiment, for a total of sixty guns. In 1940, the King of Belgium was the commander in chief of the Belgian Army which had 100,000 active duty personnel, its strength could be raised to 550,000 when fully mobilized. The army was composed of seven corps, that were garrisoned at Brussels, Antwerp, and Liege. Each infantry divisions had a divisional staff along with three regiments, each of 3,000 men. Each regiment had 108 light machine guns,52 heavy machine guns, nine heavy mortars or infantry gun howitzers, plus six antitank guns. Within the Free Belgian Forces that were formed in Great Britain during the occupation of Belgium between 1940–45, there was a land formation, the 1st Belgian Infantry Brigade. An additional three divisions were raised and trained in Northern Ireland, but the war ended before they could see action, however, they joined the initial Belgian occupation force in Germany, I Belgian Corps, whose headquarters moved to Luedenscheid in October 1946. Of the 75,000 troops that found themselves in Germany on 8 May 1945, there were also two reserve brigades, slightly bigger than the four active brigades, which were intended as reinforcements for the two divisions. After the end of the Cold War, forces were reduced, initial planning in 1991 called for a Belgian-led corps with 2 or 4 Belgian brigades, a German brigade, and possibly a U. S. brigade. However, by 1992 this plan was looking unlikely and in 1993 a single Belgian division with two brigades became part of the Eurocorps, the Land Component is organised using the concept of capacities, whereby units are gathered together according to their function and material. Within this framework, there are five capacities, command, combat, support, services, the command capacity groups the following levels of command, COMOPSLAND, Medium Brigade at Leopoldsburg and Light Brigade at Marche-en-Famenne

5.
British Army
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The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. As of 2017 the British Army comprises just over 80,000 trained Regular, or full-time, personnel and just over 26,500 trained Reserve, or part-time personnel. Therefore, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, day to day the Army comes under administration of the Ministry of Defence and is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. Repeatedly emerging victorious from these decisive wars allowed Britain to influence world events with its policies and establish itself as one of the leading military. In 1660 the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were restored under Charles II, Charles favoured the foundation of a new army under royal control and began work towards its establishment by August 1660. The Royal Scots Army and the Irish Army were financed by the Parliament of Scotland, the order of seniority of the most senior line regiments in the British Army is based on the order of seniority in the English army. At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, after William and Marys accession to the throne, England involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance, primarily to prevent a French invasion restoring Marys father, James II. Spain, in the two centuries, had been the dominant global power, and the chief threat to Englands early transatlantic ambitions. The territorial ambitions of the French, however, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. From the time of the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, Great Britain was the naval power. As had its predecessor, the English Army, the British Army fought the Kingdoms of Spain, France, and the Netherlands for supremacy in North America and the West Indies. With native and provincial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the North American theatre of the Seven Years War, the British Army suffered defeat in the American War of Independence, losing the Thirteen Colonies but holding on to Canada. The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars and served in campaigns across Europe. The war between the British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world and at its peak, in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A Coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian Armies under the Duke of Wellington, the English had been involved, both politically and militarily, in Ireland since being given the Lordship of Ireland by the Pope in 1171. The campaign of the English republican Protector, Oliver Cromwell, involved uncompromising treatment of the Irish towns that had supported the Royalists during the English Civil War, the English Army stayed in Ireland primarily to suppress numerous Irish revolts and campaigns for independence. Having learnt from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution, the British Army found itself fighting Irish rebels, both Protestant and Catholic, primarily in Ulster and Leinster in the 1798 rebellion. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created the Territorial Force as the Armys volunteer reserve component by merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Militia, Great Britains dominance of the world had been challenged by numerous other powers, in the 20th century, most notably Germany

6.
Canadian Army
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The Canadian Army is one of three environmental commands within the unified Canadian Armed Forces. As of September 2013 the Army has 21,600 regular soldiers, about 24,000 reserve soldiers, the Army is supported by 5,600 civilian employees. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is responsible for the Army Reserve. The Commander of the Canadian Army and Chief of the Army Staff is Lieutenant-General Paul Wynnyk, the name Canadian Army only came into official use beginning in 1940, from before Confederation until the Second World War the official designation was Canadian Militia. On 1 April 1966, as a precursor to the unification of Canadas armed services, Mobile Command was renamed Land Force Command in the 1993 reorganization of the Canadian Armed Forces. In August 2011, Land Force Command reverted to the title of the Canadian Army. Some current regiments of the Canadian Army trace their origins to these pre-Confederation militia, Regular Canadian troops participated in the North West Rebellion in 1885, the South African War in 1899, and, in much larger numbers, constituted the Canadian Expeditionary Force in First World War. In 1940, during Second World War, the Permanent Active Militia was renamed the Canadian Army, supplemented by the non-permanent militia, the Army participated in the Korean War and formed part of the NATO presence in West Germany during the Cold War. Despite Canadas usual support of British and American initiatives, Canadas land forces did not directly participate in the Vietnam War or the Iraq War, Command of the Army is exercised by the Commander of the Canadian Army within National Defence Headquarters located in Ottawa. It serves as a headquarters to command a divisional-level deployment of Canadian or allied forces on operations. It includes a number of schools and training organizations, such as the Combat Training Centre at CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick, the position was renamed Chief of the Land Staff in 1993. Following the reversion of Land Forces to the Canadian Army in 2011, officers are selected in several ways, The Regular Officer Training Plan, where candidates are educated at the Royal Military College of Canada or at civilian Canadian universities. Direct Entry officer Plan, for those who hold a university degree or technology diploma. Candidates complete their degrees while serving in the Army, university Training Plan, designed to develop selected serving non-commissioned members for service as career officers in the Regular Force. Normally, candidates selected for this plan will attend RMC or a university in Canada. Special Requirements Commissioning Plan, is designed to meet the needs of the officer occupations, subsidized special education, which includes the Medical Officer Training Plan or Dental Officer Training Plan. In addition there were other commissioning plans such as the Officer Candidate Training Plan, Canadian infantry and armoured regimental traditions are strongly rooted in the traditions and history of the British Army. Many regiments were patterned after regiments of the British Army, other regiments developed independently, resulting in a mixture of both colourful and historically familiar names

7.
Israel Defense Forces
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The Israel Defense Forces, commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal, are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the forces, air force, and navy. It is the military wing of the Israeli security forces. The IDF is headed by its Chief of General Staff, the Ramatkal, subordinate to the Defense Minister of Israel, Lieutenant general Gadi Eizenkot has served as Chief of Staff since 2015. The number of wars and border conflicts in which the IDF has been involved in its history makes it one of the most battle-trained armed forces in the world. The Israel Defense Forces differs from most armed forces in the world in many ways, differences include the mandatory conscription of women and its structure, which emphasizes close relations between the army, navy, and air force. Since its founding, the IDF has been designed to match Israels unique security situation. The IDF is one of Israeli societys most prominent institutions, influencing the economy, culture. In 1965, the Israel Defense Forces was awarded the Israel Prize for its contribution to education, the Uzi submachine gun was invented in Israel and used by the IDF until December 2003, ending a service that began in 1954. The Israeli cabinet ratified the name Israel Defense Forces, Tzva HaHagana LeYisrael, literally army for the defense of Israel, the other main contender was Tzva Yisrael. The name was chosen because it conveyed the idea that the role was defense, and because it incorporated the name Haganah. Among the primary opponents of the name were Minister Haim-Moshe Shapira, the IDF traces its roots to Jewish paramilitary organizations in the New Yishuv, starting with the Second Aliyah. The first such organization was Bar-Giora, founded in September 1907 and it was converted to Hashomer in April 1909, which operated until the British Mandate of Palestine came into being in 1920. Hashomer was an elitist organization with narrow scope, and was created to protect against criminal gangs seeking to steal property. During World War I, the forerunners of the Haganah/IDF were the Zion Mule Corps, after the Arab riots against Jews in April 1920, the Yishuvs leadership saw the need to create a nationwide underground defense organization, and the Haganah was founded in June of the same year. The Haganah became a defense force after the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine with an organized structure. During World War II the successor to the Jewish Legion of World War I was the Jewish Brigade, the IDF was founded following the establishment of the State of Israel, after Defense Minister and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion issued an order on 26 May 1948. The order called for the establishment of the Israel Defense Forces, although Ben-Gurion had no legal authority to issue such an order, the order was made legal by the cabinet on 31 May

8.
Norwegian army
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Norway achieved full independence in 1905, and in the first century of its short life has contributed to three major conflicts, World War II, the Cold War and the War on Terror. The Norwegian Army currently operates in Northern Norway and in Afghanistan as well as in Eastern Europe, the Army is the oldest of the service branches, established as a modern military organization in 1628. The Army participated in wars during the 17th, 18th and 19th century as well, after the Kalmar War broke out in 1611, the Danish king tried to revive the volunteer leidang, with dire results. As the Norwegian citizenry had not been armed or trained in the use of arms for nearly three centuries they were not able to fight, the soldiers had to participate in military drills, while providing supplementary labor to the local community when not in active service. During the war of 1643–45, the Norwegian army performed well while its Danish counterpart flopped, as a result, large areas had to be ceded to Sweden. In 2008 the army faced criticism from within for only being able to only one district in Oslo in the event of a national invasion. German ceased to be the language of command in the army in 1772. With the outbreak of the Napoleonic wars, Denmark-Norway and Sweden tried to remain neutral, by 1807, Denmark-Norway was formally at war with Britain. As the Napoleonic era drew to a close, the allies decided to award Norway to Sweden in 1814. This union lasted until 1905, during which time the Norwegian Army retained a separate entity within the joint kingdom, financial budgeting, recruitment, regimental organization and uniforms were all independent of their Swedish counterparts. The basis for recruitment for the Norwegian Army was initially one of conscription for up to five years by lot drawn amongst rural recruits only, a framework was provided by regular soldiers or hvervede, enlisted as long-service volunteers. As with other armies of the period, the payment of a substitute to serve in place was permitted. This system was replaced by one of universal conscription introduced in 1854, in 1884 the basis of service was further modified with the training period being reduced to 90 days. The regulars of the hvervede were reduced to a cadre of officers, ncos. In June 1905 the Storting unilaterally dissolved the 91-year-old union with Sweden, after a short but tense period during which both armies were mobilized, Sweden agreed to the peaceful dissolution of the union. Though nominally a neutral nation during World War I, Norway was in the position of being dependent on the warring sides for its trade. Coal from Britain was needed to keep the country going, and Norway had thus to agree that each shipload of coal leaving Britain be matched with incoming Norwegian cargoes such as copper ore and this attracted the attention of German submarines. By 1920 the army of Norway was a national militia, service was universal and compulsory, liability commencing at the age of 18 and continuing till the age of 56

9.
Pakistan Army
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Pakistan Army is the land-based service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. It came into existence after the independence of Pakistan in 1947, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies it had an active force of approximately 620,000 active personnel as of 2017. In Pakistan, there is 16–23 years of age for military service. Pakistan Army has started inducting women as commissioned officers, Pakistani Air Force and Pakistani Navy have inducted their first female pilots and sailors in 2012 see details at Women in the Pakistan Armed Forces. Since its establishment in 1947, the Army has been involved in four wars with neighbouring India, since 1947, it has also maintained a strong presence along with its inter-services in the Arab states during the past Arab-Israeli Wars, and aided the coalition in the first Gulf War. Recently, major joint-operations undertaken by the Army include Operation Zarb-e-Azb, Operation Toar-e-Tander, the Army has also been an active participant in United Nations peacekeeping missions, including playing a major role in rescuing trapped US soldiers in Operation Gothic Serpent in 1993. Under Article 243 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the President is appointed the civilian Commander-in-Chief, the Chief of Army Staff, by statute a four-star general, is appointed by the President with the consultation and confirmation needed from the Prime Minister. The Pakistan Army is currently commanded by General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Pakistan Army was created on the 30th of June of the year 1947 from the division of the British Indian Army. Fearing that India would take over the state of Kashmir, irregulars, scouts, in response to this, the Maharaja acceded to India. The Indian Armed Forces were then deployed to Kashmir and this led to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. A ceasefire followed on UN intervention with Pakistan occupying the northwestern part of Kashmir and this aid greatly expanded the Pakistan Army from its modest beginnings. The Pakistan Army took over from politicians for the first time when General Ayub Khan came to power through a coup in 1958. He formed Convention Muslim League which included Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who would later become Pakistans first democratically elected Prime Minister, tensions with India flared in the 1960s and a brief border skirmish was fought near the Rann of Kutch area during April 1965. The War began after the failure of Operation Gibraltar on 5 August 1965, on the night of 6 September 1965, the Indian Army opened the war front to the Province of Punjab of Pakistan, the Indian Army almost reached the Pakistani city of Lahore. The Indian Army conquered around 360 square kilometres square kilometres of Pakistani territory on the outskirts of Lahore. Indian forces halted their assault on Lahore once they had reached the village of Burki, the rationale for this was that a ceasefire was to be signed soon, and had India captured Lahore it would likely have been returned in ceasefire negotiations. The War eventually ended with a United Nations backed ceasefire and was followed by the Tashkent Declaration, losses were relatively heavy—on the Pakistani side, twenty aircraft,200 tanks, and 3,800 troops. Pakistans army had been able to withstand Indian pressure, but a continuation of the fighting would only have led to further losses, at the time of ceasefire declaration, India reported casualties of about 3,000 killed

10.
Philippine Army
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The Philippine Army, is the main, oldest and largest branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines responsible for ground warfare. Commanding General, Lieutenant General Eduardo Año, former Chief of Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and its main headquarters is located at Fort Bonifacio, Taguig, Metro Manila. Years of Spanish rule, which dragged on to almost three centuries made the Filipinos restive and they were soon clamoring for reforms and an end to oppressive friar rule. In 1896, Andres Bonifacio founded the Katipunan to prepare his band of freedom loving Filipinos for armed revolt, the Katipunan formed the nucleus of the Revolutionary Army. General Artemio Ricarte was named Captain General of the Ejercito en la Republica de las Islas Filipinas or the revolutionary Philippine Army and this date marks the founding day of the modern day Philippine Army. On June 12,1898, General Emilio Aguinaldo declared Philippine Independence from Spain and formed the first Philippine Republic, the treaty ceded the Philippines to the United States. On February 4,1899, the Filipino-American War erupted, due to the superiority of American arms, the Filipinos fell from one position to another until they were forced to disband. Even after the cessation of hostilities and as the Americans have established government in 1901. Between that time until 1935, the army lost many of its cohorts in sporadic engagements with American troops. Both of these organizations and their victories over the PRA contributed to the end of the conflict in 1902. Starting in 1910, Filipino personnel in the Philippine Scouts were sent to the United States Military Academy with one PS soldier being sent per year. Several of these graduates who served with the Scouts, plus PC officers, the Philippine Army of today was initially organized under the National Defense Act of 1935 that formally created the Armed Forces of the Philippines. After the establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth on November 15,1935, the official rebirth of the Philippine Army occurred with the passage of Commonwealth Act No. 1, approved on December 21,1935, which effected the organization of a Council of National Defense, the act set forth the organizational structure of the army in some detail, set forth enlistment procedures, and established mobilization procedures. With this act, the AFP was officially established, the development of the new Philippine Army was slow. The commander of the Philippine Department provided Philippine Scouts as instructors and detailed U. S. Army officers to assist in the inspection, instruction, by the end of the year instructors had been trained and camps established. The first group of 20,000 men was called up on January 1,1937, coast artillery instruction was carried on at Fort Stotsenburg and at Grande Island in Subic Bay by personnel supplied largely by the American commander at Corregidor. On the same date, U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Presidential Order did not order all the military forces of the Philippine government into the service of the United States Armed Forces

11.
Philippine Constabulary
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The Philippine Constabulary was a gendarmerie-type police force of the Philippines from 1901 to 1991. It was created by the American colonial government to replace the Spanish colonial Guardia Civil and it was the first of the four service commands of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. On January 29,1991, it was merged with the Integrated National Police to form the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Constabulary was established on August 18,1901, under the general supervision of the civil Governor-General of the Philippines, by authority of Act. No.175 of the Second Philippine Commission, for the purpose of maintaining peace, law, by the end of 1901, a total of 180 officers had been commissioned. This phase of the Philippine–American War ended in Luzon by 1906, with the surrender and execution of one of its last remaining generals, continued disorder and brigandry prompted Governor-General William Howard Taft to maintain the PC to combat insurgents. Captain Henry T. Allen of the 6th U. S. Cavalry, a Kentucky-born graduate of West Point, was named as the chief of the force, and was later dubbed as the Father of the Philippine Constabulary. With the help of four army officers, Captains David Baker, W. Goldsborough, H. Atkinson. Garwood, Captain Allen organized the force, trained, equipped and armed the men as best as could be done at the time, llorente retired as a Colonel in 1921 while Velasquez retired as Major in 1927. The Philippine Constabulary Band was formed on October 15,1902 by Colonel Walter Loving upon the instructions of Governor-General Taft, the Philippines was famous abroad before the first world war was the Philippine Constabulary Band. A school for the constabulary was established on February 17,1905 at the Santa Lucia barracks in Intramuros, in 1908, the school was transferred to Baguio. In 1916 the school was renamed Academy for Officers of the Philippine Constabulary, in 1926, the school was renamed the Philippine Constabulary Academy. When the Philippine Army was created in 1936, as the Philippine Commonwealth Army, the school is the main source of regular officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which prior to 1991 included those of the Philippine Constabulary. In 1935, a tract of land was acquired in New Manila Heights. It was given by the City of Manila government in exchange for the old Gagalangin barracks compound in Tondo. Part of this tract became Camp Crame, named after Brigadier General Rafael Cramé of Rizal Province who became the first Filipino appointed Chief of the Constabulary on December 17,1917. Other parts of the tract became Camp Murphy, and Zablan Field and it consisted of soldiers trained in military police duties with nationwide jurisdiction. The move to abolish the national force and to make it a nucleus of a Philippine Army got underway when the Army of the Philippines was created in 1936. The Constabulary was inactivated on this date and was known as the Constabulary Division, the PC was not gone but got submerged in a bigger organization

12.
Taiwanese Army
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The Republic of China Army is the largest branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces. An estimated 80% of the ROC Army is located on Taiwan, while the remainder are stationed on the islands of Kinmen, Matsu. As the final line of defense against an invasion by the Peoples Liberation Army. The ROC Armys current operational strength includes 3 armies,5 corps, as of 2005, the Armys 35 brigades include 25 infantry brigades,5 armoured brigades and 3 mechanized infantry brigades. All infantry brigades stood down and transferred to Reserve Command after 2005 and this update reflects the ROCA order of battle at the conclusion of the Jinjing Restructuring Plan in 2008. A new type of unit called defense team is being introduced and these are formed by elements of de-activated brigades under each area defense command. The strength of a team may vary from one or more reinforced battalions. The team CO is usually a full colonel, the ROC Army CHQ is headed by a 3-star general and is responsible for overall command of all ROC Army assets. Army GHQ is subordinate to the Chief of the General Staff, the Minister of National Defense, internal Units, Personnel, Combat Readiness and Training, Logistics, Planning, Communications, Electronics and Information, General Affairs, Comptroller, Inspector General, Political Warfare. Armed Force Reserve Command 9 active infantry brigades,24 Reserve brigades ROC Armys former Army Missile Command was transferred to ROC Air Force in 2006, the Republic of China Military Academy trains officers for the army in a four-year program. Whampoa Military Academy, which was presided by Chiang Kai-shek, was tasked with the objective of training a professional Chinese revolutionary army (革命軍人） to unify China during the Warlord Era. It participated in the Northern Expedition, the Second Sino-Japanese War, after 1949, the ROC Army has participated in combat operations on Kinmen and the Dachen Archipelago against the PLA in the Battle of Kuningtou, and in the First and Second Taiwan Strait Crisis. In addition to major conflicts, ROCA commandos were regularly sent to raid the Fujian. Until the 1970s, the mission of the Army was to retake the mainland from the Peoples Republic of China. Following the lifting of martial law in 1988 and the democratization of the 1990s, subsequent to this shift in emphasis, the ROC Navy and Air Force have taken precedence over the ROC Army in defense doctrine and weapons procurement. The Army is also in the process of transitioning to an all volunteer force, orders were placed with the United States for M60A3 Patton tanks, M109A6 Paladin howitzers and AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopters, as well as updating existing equipment. The U. S. Government announced on October 3,2008 that it plans to sell $6.5 billion worth of arms to Taiwan ending the freeze of arms sales to Taiwan. And 182 Javelin missiles will also be available with 20 Javelin command launchers and is estimated to cost $47 million, on January 29,2010, US Government announced 5 notifications to US Congress for arms sales to Taiwan

13.
American Locomotive Company
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The American Locomotive Company was formed in 1901 by the merger of Schenectady Locomotive Engine Manufactory of Schenectady, New York with seven smaller locomotive manufacturers. The American Locomotive Automobile Company subsidiary designed and manufactured automobiles under the Alco brand from 1905-1913, the company changed its name to Alco Products, Incorporated in 1955. In 1964 the Worthington Corporation acquired the company, the company ceased trading in 1969. Samuel R. Callaway left the presidency of the New York Central Railroad to become president of Alco, when Callaway died on June 1,1904, Albert J. Pitkin succeeded him as president of Alco. In 1904, the American Locomotive Company acquired control of the Locomotive and Machine Company of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1905, Alco purchased Rogers Locomotive Works of Paterson, New Jersey, the second largest locomotive manufacturer in the United States behind Baldwin Locomotive Works. In the post World War II period, Alco operated manufacturing plants only in Schenectady and Montreal, after the American Locomotive Company ceased locomotive manufacturing in the United States in 1969, Montreal Locomotive Works continued to manufacture locomotives based on Alco designs. Alco was the second-largest steam locomotive builder in the United States, among these were a large number of well-known locomotives. Alco built many of the biggest locomotives ever constructed, including Union Pacifics Big Boy, during World War II, Alco produced many 2-10-0 Decapods for the USSR. Many of these were undelivered at the end of the war,75214, is preserved at the Finnish Railway Museum. Though the dual-service 4-8-4 steam locomotive had shown promise,1948 was the last year that steam locomotives were manufactured in Schenectady. These were the seven A-2a class 9400-series Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad 2-8-4 Berkshires and their tenders had to be subcontracted to Lima Locomotive Works, as Alcos tender shop had been closed. The building was converted to diesel locomotive manufacture, to compete with locomotives manufactured by the automobile industry, joseph Burroughs Ennis was a senior vice president between 1917 and 1947 and was responsible for the design of many of the locomotives manufactured. The company diversified into the business in 1906, producing French Berliet designs under license. Production was located at Alcos Rhode Island Locomotive Works in Providence, two years later, the Berliet license was abandoned, and the company began to produce its own designs instead. An Alco racing car won the Vanderbilt Cup in both 1909 and 1910 and competed in the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911, driven on all three occasions by Harry Grant, but, ALCOs automotive venture was unprofitable, and they abandoned automobile manufacture in 1913. The Alco automobile story is notable chiefly as a step in the career of Walter P. Chrysler. In 1911 he left Alco for Buick in Detroit, Michigan, for a list of Alco diesel locomotive models, see List of ALCO diesel locomotives. Although strongly committed to the locomotive, Alco produced the first commercially successful diesel-electric locomotive in 1924 in a consortium with General Electric

14.
Vehicle armour
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Military vehicles are commonly armoured to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, missiles or shells, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include armoured fighting vehicles like tanks, aircraft and ships, civilian vehicles may also be armoured. These vehicles include cars used by reporters, officials and others in conflict zones or where violent crime is common, armoured cars are also routinely used by security firms to carry money or valuables to reduce the risk of highway robbery or the hijacking of the cargo. Armour may also be used in vehicles to protect from other than a deliberate attack. Some spacecraft are equipped with specialised armour to protect them against impacts from micrometeoroids or fragments of space junk, the design and purpose of the vehicle determines the amount of armour plating carried, as the plating is often very heavy and excessive amounts of armour restrict mobility. In order to decrease this problem, some new materials and material compositions are being researched which include buckypaper, rolled homogeneous armour is strong, hard, and tough. Steel with these characteristics is produced by processing cast steel billets of appropriate size, rolling and forging irons out the grain structure in the steel, removing imperfections which would reduce the strength of the steel. Aluminium is used when weight is a necessity. It is most commonly used on APCs and armoured cars, wrought iron was used on ironclad warships. Early European iron armour consisted of 10 to 13 cm of wrought iron backed by up to one meter of solid wood, titanium is roughly the weight of aluminium, but as strong as iron. So despite being rather expensive, it finds an application in areas where weight is a concern, such as personal armour, because of its high density, depleted uranium can also be used in tank armour, sandwiched between sheets of steel armour plate. Plastic metal was a type of vehicle armour originally developed for merchant ships by the British Admiralty in 1940, the original composition was described as 50% clean granite of half-inch size, 43% of limestone mineral, and 7% of bitumen. It was typically applied in a two inches thick and backed by half an inch of steel. Plastic armour could be applied by pouring it into a cavity formed by the backing plate. Bulletproof glass is a term for glass that is particularly resistant to being penetrated when struck by bullets. The industry generally refers to it as bullet-resistant glass or transparent armour, bullet-resistant glass is usually constructed using a strong but transparent material such as polycarbonate thermoplastic or by using layers of laminated glass. The desired result is a material with the appearance and light-transmitting behaviour of standard glass, the polycarbonate layer, usually consisting of products such as Armormax, Makroclear, Cyrolon, Lexan or Tuffak, is often sandwiched between layers of regular glass. The use of plastic in the laminate provides impact-resistance, such as physical assault with a hammer, the plastic provides little in the way of bullet-resistance

15.
M101 howitzer
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The 105 mm M2A1 howitzer was a howitzer developed and used by the United States. It was the standard U. S. light field howitzer in World War II, entering production in 1941, it quickly gained a reputation for accuracy and a powerful punch. The M101A1 fired 105-millimetre high explosive semi-fixed ammunition and had a range of 11,270 metres, all of these qualities of the weapon, along with its widespread production, led to its adoption by many countries after the war. Its ammunition type also became the standard for foreign countries later models. During the Second World War, U. S. artillery regiments consisted of an HQ detachment, one 155mm artillery battalion, both the 155mm and 105mm battalions had twelve guns each, divided into three batteries of four guns. That gave each regiment a total of twelve 155mm howitzers, with an HE M1 shell fired at 9000 meters, the probable error in range was 41 meters, while the probable error in line was 10 meters. The U. S. military artillery designation system was changed in 1962, the gun continued to see service in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Though a similar model, the M102 howitzer, shared the roles in battle. Today, the M101A1 has been retired by the U. S. military, though it continues to see service with many other countries. By the end of the Second World War,8,536 105mm towed howitzers had been built and post-war production continued at Rock Island Arsenal until 1953, by which time 10,202 had been built. The Canadian Forces continued to use the M2A1 as the C2 Howitzer until 1997, the changes include a longer barrel, a muzzle brake, reinforced trails and the removal of shield flaps. It remains the standard light howitzer of Canadian Forces Reserve units, the C3 is used by Reserve units in Glacier National Park in British Columbia as a means of avalanche control. In addition, the M101 has found a use in the U. S. as an avalanche control gun. Today upgraded M2A1 howitzers are still being used by the Peoples Army of Vietnam and it continues to remain as the primary tactical field-howitzer of the VPA. M2 Howitzers are still in limited service in the Australian Army Reserve, in regular service they were replaced by the 105mm L119 Hamel gun and the 155-millimetre M198 howitzers. Two M2 howitzers are employed in providing the gun salute at Kristiansten Fortress, in Trondheim. M101/M2 is one of three approved salute guns in the Norwegian armed forces, and have reduced to a caliber of 75 millimetres for this purpose. They are used for gun salute also at Rena and Setermoen, M2 - minor changes to the chamber to allow use of fixed ammunition

16.
M2 Browning machine gun
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The M2 Machine Gun or Browning.50 Caliber Machine Gun is a heavy machine gun designed toward the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Brownings earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, the M2 uses the much larger and much more powerful.50 BMG cartridge, which was developed alongside and takes its name from the gun itself. It has been referred to as Ma Deuce, in reference to its M2 nomenclature, the design has had many specific designations, the official designation for the current infantry type is Browning Machine Gun, Cal.50, M2, HB, Flexible. It is effective against infantry, unarmored or lightly armored vehicles and boats, light fortifications, the M2 has been produced longer than any other machine gun. The Browning.50 caliber machine gun has been used extensively as a vehicle weapon and it was heavily used during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Falklands War, the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan in the 2000s and 2010s. It is the heavy machine gun of NATO countries, and has been used by many other countries as well. The M2 has been in use longer than any firearm in U. S. inventory except the.45 ACP M1911 pistol. The current M2HB is manufactured in the U. S. by General Dynamics, Ordnance for use by the U. S. government, and for allies via Foreign Military Sales, as well as foreign manufacturers such as FN Herstal. Machine guns were used in World War I, and weapons of larger than rifle caliber were appearing. Both the British and French had large caliber machine guns, the larger rounds were needed to defeat the armor that was being introduced to the battlefield. Armor was also appearing in the skies, during World War I, the Germans introduced a heavily armored airplane, the Junkers J. I. The armor made aircraft machine guns using conventional rifle ammunition ineffective, consequently, the American Expeditionary Forces commander General John J. Pershing asked for a larger caliber machine gun. Pershing asked the Army Ordnance Department to develop a gun with a caliber of at least 0.50 inches. U. S. Col. John Henry Parker, commanding a machine gun school in France, the Army Ordnance Department ordered eight experimental Colt machine guns rechambered for the French 11 mm cartridge. The French had developed a machine gun for an even larger caliber. The French 11 mm round was found to be unsuitable because its velocity was too low, Pershing wanted a bullet of at least 670 gr and a muzzle velocity of 2,700 ft/s. Development with the French round was dropped, around July 1917, John M. Browning started redesigning his.30 caliber machine gun for a larger caliber. Winchester worked on the cartridge, which was a version of the. 30-06

17.
Wright R-975
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The Wright R-975 Whirlwind was a series of nine-cylinder air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by the Wright Aeronautical division of Curtiss-Wright. These engines had a displacement of about 975 in³ and power ratings of 300-450 hp and they were the largest members of the Wright Whirlwind engine family to be produced commercially, and they were also the most numerous. During World War II, Continental Motors built the R-975 under license as a powerplant for Allied tanks, tens of thousands of engines were built for this purpose, dwarfing the R-975s usage in aircraft. After the war, Continental continued to produce its own versions of the R-975 into the 1950s, the R-975 is most famous for being used as the power plant for the M18 Hellcat tank destroyer, the fastest and most efficient American tank killer of World War II. The R-975 powered M18 remained the fastest tracked armored vehicle in the world until the introduction of the turbine powered M1 Abrams in the 1980s, Wright introduced the J-6 Whirlwind family in 1928 to replace the nine-cylinder R-790 series. The J-6 family included varieties with five, seven, and nine cylinders, the nine-cylinder version was originally known as the J-6 Whirlwind Nine, or J-6-9 for short. The U. S. government designated it as the R-975, Wright later adopted this, like all the members of the J-6 Whirlwind family, the R-975 had larger cylinders than the R-790. The piston stroke of 5.5 in was unchanged, while the R-790 was naturally aspirated, the R-975, like the other J-6 engines, had a gear-driven supercharger to boost its power output. Wright gradually developed the R-975, at first using suffix letters to indicate successive versions, the original R-975 was rated for 300 hp, while the R-975E of 1931 could do 330 hp thanks to an improved cylinder head design. Wright later added numeric suffixes to show different power levels, the R-975E-1, introduced the same year as the R-975E, was rated at 365 hp thanks to higher-compression pistons and a slightly greater RPM limit. As the most powerful Whirlwind engine to be produced, the R-975 also became the most popular. In addition, it powered several U. S. military training aircraft, the North American BT-9 and Vultee BT-15 Valiant for the Army and the Curtiss-Wright SNC-1 Falcon for the Navy. As the runway at FBF was just 5,000 feet long, Boardman and Polando needed to have a fence removed, the phone and electric utilities even took down poles along Flatbush Avenue. However, the R-975 faced heavy competition from Pratt & Whitneys R-985 Wasp Junior, Pratt & Whitney sold many more Wasp Juniors for aircraft use than Wright sold R-975s. Wrights production of the R-975 continued until 1945, with over 7000 engines being produced by the company, Continental versions of the R-975 for armored vehicles included the R-975E-C2, the R-975-C1, and the R-975-C4. Continental built over 53,000 R-975 engines for armored vehicles, after the war, Continental introduced its own R-975 version for aircraft, the R9-A. A military version, the R-975-46, could reach 550 hp, continentals production of R-975 engines continued into the 1950s. The R-975 was also produced under licence by Fábrica Nacional de Motores in Brazil, J-6-9300 hp at 2,000 RPM

18.
Vertical volute spring suspension
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The vertical volute spring suspension system is a type of vehicle suspension system. This type of the system was mainly fitted on US and Italian tanks. During the 1930s, many innovations in the components of light tanks would make US tanks considerably reliable and these included rubber-bushed tracks, rear mounted radial engines and the vertical volute spring suspension. A volute spring is a spring in the form of a cone. Under compression the coils slide over each other, affording longer travel, the result is more stable and powerful than any leaf, coil, or torsion bar spring in the same volume. Mounted vertically in a road wheel bogie for a pair of wheels in a tank made a very compact unit. The Rock Island Arsenal produced a tank for the cavalry which used vertical volute spring suspension instead of leaf spring suspension. Standardized as the M1 Combat Car, it entered service with the US Army in 1937, the design was used in the M2 light tank and subsequent Stuart tank series. Design features of the Stuart were scaled up for use in the first M2 medium tanks which would evolve into the more successful M3 Lee and M4 Sherman, all using the VVSS. Battle experience showed a short life of the original vertical volute spring suspension of the late models M3s due to the tanks increasing combat weight with larger guns. After mid-1944, M4A3 models of the Sherman adopted a newly developed Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension and this type of a suspension system involved springing the pair of dual-mounted road wheels on each bogie against each other with a volute-spring. It was essentially a version of the British Horstmann suspension that replaced the Horstmanns coil-spring with a pair of volute-springs, coincidentally, the word Easy is the code-word for the letter E in the Able Baker code. Christie suspension Horstmann suspension torsion bar suspension Continuous track

19.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan

20.
Bishop (artillery)
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A result of a rushed attempt to create a self-propelled gun, the vehicle had numerous problems, was produced in limited numbers and was soon replaced by better designs. The rapid manoeuvre warfare practiced in the North African Campaign led to a requirement for a self-propelled artillery vehicle armed with the 25-pounder gun-howitzer, in June 1941 the development was entrusted to the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company. A prototype was ready for trials by August and 100 were ordered by November 1941, the result was a vehicle with the formal title, Ordnance QF 25-pdr on Carrier Valentine 25-pdr Mk 1. The vehicle was based on the Valentine II hull, with the turret replaced by a boxy superstructure with large rear doors. It was nicknamed the Bishop for its high mitre-like superstructure, into this superstructure the 25-pounder gun-howitzer was fitted. As a consequence of the gun mounting the resulting vehicle had very high silhouette, the maximum elevation for the gun was limited to 15 degrees, reducing the range to 6,400 yards, about half that of the same gun on a wheeled carriage. The maximum depression was 5 degrees, traverse was 8 degrees, the Bishop first saw action during the Second Battle of El Alamein in North Africa and remained in service during the early part of the Italian Campaign. Due to its limitations and the Valentines characteristic slow speed, the Bishop was poorly received, to increase range, crews would build large earthen ramps and run the Bishop onto them, tilting the vehicle back to increase the elevation. The Bishop was replaced by the M7 Priest and Sexton when those became available in sufficient numbers, a British self-propelled gun armed with the Ordnance QF 25-pounder in design from 1941 was nicknamed the Bishop as its appearance was said to resemble a bishops mitre. A replacement, the US105 Millimeter Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 was called Priest by the British, following this line of names a 1942 self-propelled gun armed with the QF6 pounder was Deacon, and a 1943 carrier weapon with the QF 25-pounder was Sexton. This practise was continued after the war with FV433 Abbot SPG, chris Henry, Mike Fuller - The 25-pounder Field Gun 1939-72, Osprey Publishing 2002, ISBN 1-84176-350-0. Flames of War, Bishop, 8th Army World War II Vehicles

21.
T19 Howitzer Motor Carriage
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The T19 Howitzer Motor Carriage, was a 105 mm howitzer mounted on a M3 Half-track chassis. It saw service during World War II with the U. S. Army and its secondary armament consisted of an air-cooled.50 in M2 machine gun for local defense. It was produced by Diamond T between January 1942 and April 1942, the T19 Howitzer Gun Motor Carriage was similar to the M3 Half-track, as it shared the same chassis, engine, suspension, armor, and fuel tank. It was 20 ft 2 in long,6 ft 5 in wide,7 ft 8 in high, the suspension consisted of semi-elliptical longitudinal leaf springs for the wheels and vertical volute springs for the tracks. It was powered by a White 160AX,147 hp,386 in3 and it was capable of a maximum road speed of 45 mph. The power-to-weight ratio was 14.7 hp/ton, the vehicle was operated by a crew of six. Maximum armor was only 0.5 inch at the windshield and 0.25 inches everywhere else, the armament consisted of one 105 mm M2A1 howitzer with a single.50 caliber M2 Browning machine gun for local defense. In the autumn of 1941, when the Armored Force expanded, although a full-track chassis was preferred, the situation required the use of whatever vehicles were immediately available. The M3 Half-track was selected to carry a 105 mm M2A1 howitzer, although this design had originally been suggested in September 1941, it had not been taken up. As with other American self-propelled guns produced during the early World War II period, the M2 recoil mechanism and other parts of the M2 howitzer carriage were used in the vehicle mounting. After several tests, the gun carriage proved fragile on bumpy terrain, the problem was corrected by reinforcing the frame, and redesigning the howitzer mount. Demountable headlights were recommended because of the muzzle blast, although they were not available for production models. Early models had no shield for the howitzer either, but a shield was added during testing. The gun faced forward, like many other half-track models, the total traverse was 40 degrees and the elevation was from −5 to +35 degrees. The armored windshield cover was remounted so it could fold onto the hood, after further testing, it was accepted for production. After the design was accepted, a prototype was shipped to Diamond T as a guide for production, the first production vehicle was delivered to the US Army in January 1942. A total of 324 T19s had been made by the production ended in April 1942. The T19 HMC was designed as a stopgap measure until better self-propelled artillery pieces were made and it was employed mainly in most battalions headquarter platoons, and the cannon companies of infantry divisions

22.
M3 Half-track
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The M3 Half-track, known officially as the Carrier, Personnel Half-track M3, was an American armored personnel carrier half-track widely used by the Allies during World War II and in the Cold War. Derived from the M2 Half Track Car, the slightly longer M3 was extensively produced, with about 15,000 units, the design was based on the Citroen-Kégresse half-track. The developers attempted to use as many parts as possible. There were also several variants for different purposes. The M3 and its variants were supplied to the U. S. Army and Marines, as well as British Commonwealth and Soviet Red Army forces, although at first unpopular, it was used by most of the Allies at some point in the war. Racks under the seats were used for ammunition and rations, additional racks behind the seat backs held the squads rifles, a small rack for mines was added on the outside of the hull just above the tracks. In combat, most units found it necessary to stow additional food, rucksacks, luggage racks were often added in the field, and very late vehicles had rear-mounted racks for this crew stowage. Early vehicles had a mount, just behind the front seats. The later M3A1 adopted a raised, armored pulpit mount for the. 50-caliber, many M3s were later modified to the M3A1 standard. The body was armored all around, with an armored shutter for the engines radiator. Between the world wars, the U. S. Army sought to improve the mobility of its forces. With the goal of finding a high-mobility infantry vehicle, the Ordnance Department had evaluated the design by testing French Citroën-Kégresse vehicles. The White Motor Company produced a prototype using their own chassis. The front suspension was leaf spring, tracks by vertical volute spring, braking was vacuum-assisted hydraulic, steering manual, without power assist. The M3 was the larger and longer counterpart to the M2 Half Track Car, the M2 was originally intended to function as an artillery tractor. The M3 had an access door in the rear and seating for a 12-man rifle squad. Five seats were arranged on each side in the rear of the vehicle, although originally intended for armored infantry regiments, it was quickly put into action with the Provisional Tank Group when the Japanese Army began their invasion of the Philippines. Initially, there were multiple complaints due to mechanical difficulties

23.
M3 Lee
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The Medium Tank M3 was an American tank used during World War II. In Britain, the tank was called by two names based on the configuration and crew size. Tanks employing US pattern turrets were called the Lee, named after Confederate general Robert E. Lee, variants using British pattern turrets were known as Grant, named after U. S. general Ulysses S. Grant. Design commenced in July 1940, and the first M3s were operational in late 1941. The U. S. Army needed a medium tank armed with a 75mm gun and, coupled with the United Kingdoms immediate demand for 3,650 medium tanks, the design was a compromise meant to produce a tank as soon as possible. They were extensively used in northern Africa and its overall performance was not satisfactory and the tank was withdrawn from combat in most theaters as soon as the M4 Sherman tank became available in larger numbers. In spite of this, it was considered by Hans von Luck to be superior to the best German tank at the time of its introduction, despite being replaced elsewhere, the British continued to use M3s in combat against the Japanese in southeast Asia until 1945. In 1939, the U. S. Army possessed approximately 400 tanks, mostly M2 Light Tanks, the U. S. funded tank development poorly during the interwar years, and had little experience in design as well as poor doctrine to guide design efforts. The M2 Medium Tank was typical of armored fighting vehicles many nations produced in 1939. When the U. S. entered the war, the M2 design was obsolete with a 37 mm gun,32 mm frontal armor, an impractical number of secondary machine guns. The Panzer III and Panzer IVs success in the French campaign led the U. S. Army to immediately order a new tank armed with a 75 mm gun in a turret. This would be the M4 Sherman, until the Sherman reached production, an interim design with a 75 mm gun was urgently needed. The design was unusual because the main weapon — a larger caliber, the sponson mount was necessary because, at the time, American tank plants were incapable of casting a turret big enough to hold the 75mm main gun. A small turret with a lighter, high-velocity 37 mm gun sat on top of the tall hull, a small cupola on top of the turret held a machine gun. The use of two guns was seen on the French Char B1 and the Mark I version of the British Churchill tank. In each case, two weapons were mounted to give the tanks adequate capability in firing both anti-personnel high explosive ammunition and armor-piercing ammunition for anti-tank combat, using a hull mounted gun, the M3 design could be produced faster than a tank featuring a turreted gun. It was understood that the M3 design was flawed, but Britain urgently needed tanks, steering was by differential braking, with a turning circle of 37 ft. The turret was power-traversed by a system in the form of an electric motor providing the pressure for the hydraulic motor

24.
Chassis
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A chassis consists of an internal vehicle frame that supports an artificial object in its construction and use, can also provide protection for some internal parts. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, if the running gear such as wheels and transmission, and sometimes even the drivers seat, are included, then the assembly is described as a rolling chassis. In the case of vehicles, the rolling chassis means the frame plus the running gear like engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential. An under body, which is not necessary for integrity of the structure, is built on the chassis to complete the vehicle. For commercial vehicles, a rolling chassis consists of an assembly of all the parts of a truck to be ready for operation on the road. The design of a car chassis will be different than one for commercial vehicles because of the heavier loads. Commercial vehicle manufacturers sell chassis only, cowl and chassis, as well as chassis cab versions that can be outfitted with specialized bodies and these include motor homes, fire engines, ambulances, box trucks, etc. In particular applications, such as buses, a government agency like National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the U. S. defines the design standards of chassis. An armoured fighting vehicles hull serves as the chassis and comprises the part of the AFV that includes the tracks, engine, drivers seat. This describes the hull, although common usage might include the upper hull to mean the AFV without the turret. The hull serves as a basis for platforms on tanks, armoured carriers, combat engineering vehicles. In an electronic device, the chassis consists of a frame or other supporting structure on which the circuit boards. In the absence of a frame, the chassis refers to the circuit boards and components themselves. The combination of chassis and outer covering is called an enclosure. Vietnam Studies, Department of the Army, Washington, D. C.1978

25.
Howitzer
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In the taxonomies of artillery pieces used by European armies in the 17th to 20th centuries, the howitzer stood between the gun and the mortar. Howitzers, like other artillery equipment, are organized in groups called batteries. The English word howitzer comes from the Czech word houfnice, from houf, crowd, haufen, sometimes in the compound Gewalthaufen, also designated a pike square formation in German. This is particularly true in the forces of the United States. Because of this practice, the howitzer is used in some armies as a generic term for any kind of artillery piece that is designed to attack targets using indirect fire. Thus, artillery pieces that bear resemblance to howitzers of earlier eras are now described as howitzers. Most other armies in the reserve the word howitzer for guns with barrel lengths 15 to 25 times their caliber. The British had a method of nomenclature. In the 18th century, they adopted projectile weight for guns replacing the old naming system of culverin, saker, mortars had been categorized by calibre in inches in the 17th century and this was inherited by howitzers. The modern howitzers were invented in Sweden towards the end of the 17th century, originally intended for use in siege warfare, they were particularly useful for delivering cast-iron shells filled with gunpowder or incendiary materials into the interior of fortifications. In the middle of the 18th century, a number of European armies began to introduce howitzers that were enough to accompany armies in the field. Though usually fired at the high angles of fire used by contemporary siege howitzers. Rather, as the guns of the day were usually restricted to inert projectiles. Many, for the sake of simplicity and rapidity of fire, the Abus gun was an early form of howitzer in the Ottoman Empire. In 1758 the Russian Empire introduced a type of howitzer, with a conical chamber, called a licorne. The most famous of these gun-howitzers was the Napoleon 12-pounder, a weapon of French design that saw service in the American Civil War. The longest-serving artillery piece of the 19th century was the mountain howitzer, in 1859, the armies of Europe began to rearm field batteries with rifled field guns. These new field pieces used cylindrical projectiles that, while smaller in caliber than the spherical shells of smoothbore field howitzers, moreover, their greater range let them create many of the same effects that previously required the sharply curved trajectories of smoothbore field howitzers

26.
M24 Chaffee
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In British service it was given the service name Chaffee after the United States Army General Adna R. Chaffee, Jr. who helped develop the use of tanks in the United States armed forces. While long removed from American and British service, it is found in service as a light tank in third-world countries. British combat experience in the North African campaign identified several shortcomings of the M3 Stuart light tank, the M3/M5 design was dated though, the 75 mm gun reduced storage space, and the armor was insufficient. The weight increase without increased power gave it unsatisfactory performance, the program was stopped in March 1943 to allow standardization on a medium tank - the M4 medium. The powerplant and transmission of the M5 were used together with some aspects of the T7, every effort was made to keep the weight of the vehicle under 20 tons. The armor was light, with the glacis plate only 25 mm thick. A new lightweight 75 mm gun was developed, a derivative of the gun used in the B-25H Mitchell bomber, the gun had the same ballistics as the 75 mm M3 in use by American tanks but used a thinly walled barrel and different recoil mechanism. The design featured -16 in - tracks and torsion bar suspension, the torsion bar system was to give a smoother ride than the vertical volute suspension used on most US armored vehicles. At the same time, the chassis was expected to be a used for other vehicles, such as self-propelled guns. It had a low silhouette and a three-man turret. On October 15,1943, the first pilot vehicle was delivered, the design was judged a success and a contract for 1,000 was immediately raised by the Ordnance Department. This was subsequently increased to 5,000, production began in 1944 under the designation Light Tank M24. It was produced at two sites, from April at Cadillac and from July at Massey-Harris, by the time production was stopped in August 1945,4,731 M24s had been produced. The M24 Chaffee was intended to replace the aging and obsolete Light Tank M5, the first thirty-four M24s reached Europe in November 1944 and were issued to the U. S. 2nd Cavalry Group in France. These were then issued to Troop F, 2nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron and Troop F, 42nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, which each received seventeen M24s. During the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, these units and their new tanks were rushed to the southern sector, the M24 started to enter widespread use in December 1944, but they were slow in reaching the front-line combat units. By the end of the war, many armored divisions were mainly equipped with the M3/M5 Stuart. Some armored divisions did not receive their first M24s until the war was over, reports from the armored divisions that received them prior to the end of hostilities were generally positive

27.
North Africa campaign
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The North African Campaign of the Second World War took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco, the campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had colonial interests in Africa dating from the late 19th century. The Allied war effort was dominated by the British Commonwealth and exiles from German-occupied Europe, the United States entered the war in December 1941 and began direct military assistance in North Africa on 11 May 1942. Fighting in North Africa started with the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940, on 14 June, the British Armys 11th Hussars crossed the border from Egypt into Libya and captured the Italian Fort Capuzzo. Information gleaned via British Ultra code-breaking intelligence proved critical to Allied success in North Africa, victory for the Allies in this campaign immediately led to the Italian Campaign, which culminated in the downfall of the fascist government in Italy and the elimination of a German ally. On 10 May 1940, the Wehrmacht had started the Battle of France, one month later, it was plain to see that France would have to surrender within two weeks. On 10 June 1940, the Kingdom of Italy aligned itself with Nazi Germany and declared war upon France, British forces based in Egypt were ordered to undertake defensive measures, but to act as non-provocatively as possible. However, on 11 June they began a series of raids against Italian positions in Libya, following the defeat of France on 25 June, Italian forces in Tripolitania—facing French troops based in Tunisia—redeployed to Cyrenaica to reinforce the Italian Tenth Army. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini ordered the Tenth Army to invade Egypt by 8 August, two days later, no invasion having been launched, Mussolini ordered Marshal Graziani that, the moment German forces launched Operation Sea Lion, he was to attack. The battle plan was to advance along the road, while limited armoured forces operated on the desert flank. To counter the Italian advance, Wavell ordered his forces to harass the advancing Italians, falling back towards Mersa Matruh. Positioned on the flank was the 7th Armoured Division, which would strike the flank of the Italian force. By 16 September, the Italian force had advanced to Maktila, around 80 mi west of Mersa Matruh, in response to the dispersed Italian camps, the British planned a limited five-day attack, Operation Compass, to strike at these fortified camps one by one. The British Commonwealth force, totalling 36,000 men, attacked the forward elements of the 10-division-strong Italian army on 9 December, following their initial success, the forces of Operation Compass pursued the retreating Italian forces. In January, the port at Bardia was taken, soon followed by the seizure of the fortified port of Tobruk. Some 40,000 Italians were captured in and around the two ports, with the remainder of the Tenth Army retreating along the coast road back to El Agheila. Richard OConnor sent the 7th Armoured Division across the desert, with a reconnaissance group reaching Beda Fomm some ninety minutes before the Italians. Although desperate attempts were made to overcome the British force at the Battle of Beda Fomm, the Italians were unable to break through, and the remnants of the retreating army surrendered

28.
Eighth Army (United Kingdom)
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The Eighth Army was a field army and one of the best-known formations of the British Army during the Second World War, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns of World War II. Subordinate units came from Australia, British India, Canada, Free French Forces, Greece, New Zealand, Poland, Rhodesia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Significant formations which passed through the Army included, British V Corps, British X Corps, British XIII Corps, British XXX Corps, I Canadian Corps, II Polish Corps. The Eighth Army was formed from the Western Desert Force in September 1941 and it gained its number from the fact that the French Army had fielded seven field armies previously in the same war, whereas the British had fielded the British Expeditionary Force. At its creation, the Eighth Army comprised two Corps, XXX Corps under Lieutenant-General Willoughby Norrie and XIII Corps under Lieutenant-General Reade Godwin-Austen, XXX Corps was made up of 7th British Armoured Division, the South African 1st Infantry Division and the 22nd Guards Brigade. XIII Corps composed of the 4th Indian Infantry Division, the 2nd New Zealand Division, the Eighth Army also included the Tobruk garrison, and the Polish Carpathian Brigade. In reserve, the Eighth Army had the 2nd South African Infantry Division making a total of seven divisions. By the time the army was fighting the Second Battle of El Alamein, it had reached a size of over 220,000 men in 10 divisions and several independent brigades. Despite achieving a number of successes, Rommel was forced to concede Tobruk and was pushed back to El Agheila by the end of 1941. In February 1942 Rommel had regrouped his forces sufficiently to push the over-extended Eighth Army back to the Gazala line, just west of Tobruk. Both sides commenced a period of building their strength to launch new offensives but it was Rommel who took the initiative first, ritchie proved unable to halt Rommel and was replaced when Auchinleck himself took direct command of the army. The Panzer Army Afrika were eventually stopped by Auchinleck at the First Battle of El Alamein, gott was killed in an air crash on his way to take up his command and so Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was appointed in his place. Alexander and Montgomery were able to resist the pressure from Churchill, building the Armys strength and adding a pursuit formation, X Corps, to the Armys XIII and XXX Corps. The Eighth Army then participated in the Italian Campaign which began with the Allied invasion of the island of Sicily, when the Allies subsequently invaded mainland Italy, elements of the Eighth Army landed in the toe of Italy in Operation Baytown and at Taranto in Operation Slapstick. After linking its left flank with the U. S. Fifth Army, led by Mark W. Clark, which had landed at Salerno on the west coast of Italy south of Naples, together these two armies made up the Allied Armies in Italy (later redesigned 15th Army Group, under General Sir Harold Alexander. At the end of 1943, General Montgomery was transferred to Britain to begin preparations for Operation Overlord, Command of the Eighth Army was given to Lieutenant-General Oliver Leese, previously the commander of XXX Corps, which was being returned to England. Following three unsuccessful attempts in early 1944 by the U. S. S, Fifth Army in order to mount a major offensive with them

29.
Second Battle of El Alamein
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The Second Battle of El Alamein was a decisive battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. With the Allies victorious, it marked the watershed of the Western Desert Campaign, the First Battle of El Alamein had prevented the Axis from advancing further into Egypt. The British victory turned the tide in the North African Campaign and ended the Axis threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal, the Second Battle of El Alamein revived the morale of the Allies, being the first big success against the Axis since Operation Crusader in late 1941. The battle coincided with the Allied invasion of French North Africa in Operation Torch, which started on 8 November, as well as the Battle of Stalingrad and this threatened the British Empires control of the Suez Canal and Mandatory Palestine. General Claude Auchinleck withdrew the Eighth Army to within 80 kilometres of Alexandria to a point where the Qattara Depression came to within 64 kilometres of El Alamein on the coast. This gave the defenders a short front to defend and provided secure flanks because tanks could not traverse the Depression, the Axis advance was halted here in early July in the First Battle of El Alamein. The Eighth Army counter-offensives during July failed, as Rommel had dug in to allow his troops to regroup. Auchinleck called off all offensive action at the end of July to allow rebuilding the Eighth Armys strength. The attack failed in this battle at the Alamein line, better known as the Battle of Alam el Halfa, expecting a counter-attack by Montgomerys Eighth Army. The factors that had favoured the Eighth Armys defensive plan in the First Battle of El Alamein, the front line. Rommel, furthermore, had plenty of time to prepare his defensive positions and lay extensive minefields, Alexander and Montgomery were determined to establish a superiority of forces sufficient not only to achieve a breakthrough but also to exploit it and destroy Panzer Army Africa. The British had an advantage, signals intelligence from Ultra and local sources, exposed the Axis order of battle, its supply position, force disposition. A reorganisation of the function in Africa in July had also improved the integration of intelligence received from all sources. With rare exceptions, intelligence identified the ships destined for North Africa, their location or routing and in most cases their cargoes. By 25 October, Panzer Army fuel stocks were down to three days supply, of only two days worth were east of Tobruk. Did not possess the operational freedom of movement that was essential in consideration of the fact that the British offensive can be expected to start any day. Submarine and air transport somewhat eased the shortage of ammunition and by late October, after six more weeks, the Eighth Army was ready,195,000 men and 1,029 tanks began the offensive against the 116,000 men and 547 tanks of Panzer Army Africa. Montgomerys plan was for an attack to the north of the line

30.
Ordnance QF 25-pounder
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The Ordnance QF 25-pounder, or more simply 25-pounder or 25-pdr, was the major British field gun and howitzer during World War II. It was introduced into service just before the war started, combining high-angle and direct-fire, relatively high rates of fire, and it remained the British Armys primary artillery field piece well into the 1960s, with smaller numbers serving in training units until the 1980s. Many Commonwealth of Nations countries used theirs in active or reserve service until about the 1970s and ammunition for the weapon is currently being produced by Pakistan Ordnance Factories. The design was the result of extended studies looking to replace the 18-pounder field gun and the 4. 5-inch howitzer, the result was a 3.45 inches weapon firing a shell weighing 25 pounds. It was mounted on late model 18-pounder carriages, one of these used a circular firing platform and this was adopted for the new guns. The firing platform was attached to the gun and when lowered the gun was pulled onto it and this platform transferred most of the recoil forces to the ground, instead of using the spade at the end of the trail, making the gun very stable when firing. It also provided a smooth surface for the carriage to rotate on using the road wheels. Unlike the 18-pounder, the 25-pounder used howitzer-type variable-charge ammunition, the 25-pounder was separate-loading, the shell was loaded and rammed, then the cartridge in its brass case was loaded and the breech closed. The use of shell and cartridge allowed the charge to be changed for different ranges. For the Mk 1 Ordnance on an 18-pounder carriage there were three charges, charges one, two and three, all of which could be used in the cartridge design. The Mk 2 Ordnance on Mk 1 carriage added a charge in a different cartridge. In 1943 a separately bagged increment charge was added, used with the Super it provided higher velocity for anti-tank use, the introduction of the increment to super was only possible following the addition of the muzzle-brake in the previous year. Subsequently another type of increment was introduced to be added to charges one, however, this fire required a dial sight adaptor, removal of the platform and some excavation of the ground. In common with all British guns of the period the indirect fire sight was calibrating and this meant that the range, not elevation angle, was set on the sight. The sight compensated for the difference in the guns muzzle velocities from standard, the gun was also fitted with a direct-fire telescope for use with armour-piercing shot. It also used one-man laying in accordance with normal British practice, an important part of the gun was the ammunition trailer. The gun was hooked to it and the trailer hooked to the tractor for towing, the gun did not need a limber and could be hooked directly to a tractor. The trailer provided the brakes as only a hand-brake was fitted to the gun carriage, the trailer carried ammunition, thirty-two rounds in trays in the trailer protected by two doors

31.
Logistics
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Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general sense, logistics is the management of the flow of things between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet requirements of customers or corporations. The resources managed in logistics can include items such as food, materials, animals, equipment. The logistics of physical items usually involves the integration of information flow, material handling, production, packaging, inventory, transportation, warehousing, and often security. In military science, logistics is concerned with maintaining army supply lines while disrupting those of the enemy, since an armed force without resources and transportation is defenseless. Military logistics was already practiced in the ancient world and as modern military have a significant need for logistics solutions, in military logistics, logistics officers manage how and when to move resources to the places they are needed. The complexity of logistics can be modeled, analyzed, visualized, the minimization of the use of resources is a common motivation in all logistics fields. A professional working in the field of management is called a logistician. The prevalent view is that the term comes from the late 19th century. Others attribute a Greek origin to the word, λόγος, meaning reason or speech, λογιστικός, the Oxford English Dictionary defines logistics as the branch of military science relating to procuring, maintaining and transporting material, personnel and facilities. As such, logistics is commonly seen as a branch of engineering that creates people systems rather than machine systems and that being said, from a modeling perspective, there are similarities between operations management and logistics, and companies sometimes use hybrid professionals, with for ex. Director of Operations or Logistics Officer working on similar problems, furthermore, the term supply chain management originally refers to, among other issues, having an integrated vision in of both production and logistics from point of origin to point of production. All these terms may suffer from semantic change as an effect of advertising. Outbound logistics is the related to the storage and movement of the final product. Advance Logistics consists of the required to set up or establish a plan for logistics activities to occur. Distribution logistics has, as main tasks, the delivery of the products to the customer. It consists of processing, warehousing, and transportation. Distribution logistics is necessary because the time, place, and quantity of production differs with the time, place, disposal logistics has as its main function to reduce logistics cost and enhance service related to the disposal of waste produced during the operation of a business

32.
North African Campaign
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The North African Campaign of the Second World War took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco, the campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had colonial interests in Africa dating from the late 19th century. The Allied war effort was dominated by the British Commonwealth and exiles from German-occupied Europe, the United States entered the war in December 1941 and began direct military assistance in North Africa on 11 May 1942. Fighting in North Africa started with the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940, on 14 June, the British Armys 11th Hussars crossed the border from Egypt into Libya and captured the Italian Fort Capuzzo. Information gleaned via British Ultra code-breaking intelligence proved critical to Allied success in North Africa, victory for the Allies in this campaign immediately led to the Italian Campaign, which culminated in the downfall of the fascist government in Italy and the elimination of a German ally. On 10 May 1940, the Wehrmacht had started the Battle of France, one month later, it was plain to see that France would have to surrender within two weeks. On 10 June 1940, the Kingdom of Italy aligned itself with Nazi Germany and declared war upon France, British forces based in Egypt were ordered to undertake defensive measures, but to act as non-provocatively as possible. However, on 11 June they began a series of raids against Italian positions in Libya, following the defeat of France on 25 June, Italian forces in Tripolitania—facing French troops based in Tunisia—redeployed to Cyrenaica to reinforce the Italian Tenth Army. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini ordered the Tenth Army to invade Egypt by 8 August, two days later, no invasion having been launched, Mussolini ordered Marshal Graziani that, the moment German forces launched Operation Sea Lion, he was to attack. The battle plan was to advance along the road, while limited armoured forces operated on the desert flank. To counter the Italian advance, Wavell ordered his forces to harass the advancing Italians, falling back towards Mersa Matruh. Positioned on the flank was the 7th Armoured Division, which would strike the flank of the Italian force. By 16 September, the Italian force had advanced to Maktila, around 80 mi west of Mersa Matruh, in response to the dispersed Italian camps, the British planned a limited five-day attack, Operation Compass, to strike at these fortified camps one by one. The British Commonwealth force, totalling 36,000 men, attacked the forward elements of the 10-division-strong Italian army on 9 December, following their initial success, the forces of Operation Compass pursued the retreating Italian forces. In January, the port at Bardia was taken, soon followed by the seizure of the fortified port of Tobruk. Some 40,000 Italians were captured in and around the two ports, with the remainder of the Tenth Army retreating along the coast road back to El Agheila. Richard OConnor sent the 7th Armoured Division across the desert, with a reconnaissance group reaching Beda Fomm some ninety minutes before the Italians. Although desperate attempts were made to overcome the British force at the Battle of Beda Fomm, the Italians were unable to break through, and the remnants of the retreating army surrendered

33.
Italian Campaign (World War II)
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The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. It is estimated that between September 1943 and April 1945, some 60, 000–70,000 Allied and 60, overall Allied casualties during the campaign totaled about 320,000 and the corresponding German figure was well over 600,000. Fascist Italy, prior to its collapse, suffered about 200,000 casualties, mostly POWs taken in the Allied invasion of Sicily, including more than 40,000 killed or missing. Besides them, over 150,000 Italian civilians died, as did 15,197 anti-Fascist partisans and 13,021 troops of the Italian Social Republic. The campaign ended when Army Group C surrendered unconditionally to the Allies on May 2,1945, the independent states of San Marino and the Vatican, both surrounded by Italian territory, also suffered damage during the campaign. Even prior to victory in the North African Campaign in May 1943, the British, especially the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, advocated their traditional naval-based peripheral strategy. The United States, with a larger army, favoured a more direct method of fighting the main force of the German Army in Northern Europe. The ability to such a campaign depended on first winning the Battle of the Atlantic. There was even pressure from some Latin American countries to stage an invasion of Spain, the British argued that the presence of large numbers of troops trained for amphibious landings in the Mediterranean made a limited-scale invasion possible and useful. A contributing factor was Franklin D. Roosevelts desire to keep US troops active in the European theatre during 1943 and it was hoped that an invasion might knock Italy out of the conflict, or at least increase the pressure on them and weaken them further. A combined Allied invasion of Sicily began on 10 July 1943 with both amphibious and airborne landings at the Gulf of Gela, the land forces involved were the U. S. Seventh Army, under Lieutenant General George S. Patton, the original plan contemplated a strong advance by the British northwards along the east coast to Messina, with the Americans in a supporting role along their left flank. The defending German and Italian forces were unable to prevent the Allied capture of the island, but succeeded in evacuating most of their troops to the mainland, the Allied forces gained experience in opposed amphibious operations, coalition warfare and mass airborne drops. Forces of the British Eighth Army, still under Montgomery, landed in the toe of Italy on 3 September 1943 in Operation Baytown, the armistice was publicly announced on 8 September by two broadcasts, first by General Eisenhower and then by a proclamation by Marshal Badoglio. Although the German forces prepared to defend without Italian assistance, only two of their divisions opposite the Eighth Army and one at Salerno were not tied up disarming the Royal Italian Army, on 9 September, forces of the U. S. Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark W, although none of the northern reserves were made available to the German 10th Army, it nevertheless came close to repelling the Salerno landing, due mainly to the cautious command of Clark. As the Allies advanced, they encountered increasingly difficult terrain, the Apennine Mountains form a spine along the Italian peninsula offset somewhat to the east, the rivers were subject to sudden and unexpected flooding, which constantly thwarted the Allied commanders plans. This would make the most of the natural geography of Central Italy, whilst denying the Allies the easy capture of a succession of airfields

34.
3rd Division (United Kingdom)
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The 3rd Division, known at various times as the Iron Division, 3rd Division, Montys Iron Sides or as Iron Sides, is a regular army division of the British Army. The division is sometimes referred to as the Iron Division. The divisions other battle honours include, the Battle of Waterloo, the Crimean War, the Second Boer War and it was commanded for a time, during the Second World War, by Bernard Montgomery. The division was to have part of a proposed Commonwealth Corps, formed for a planned invasion of Japan in 1945–46. During the Second World War, the became the pattern of three — a black triangle trisected by an inverted red triangle, created by Bernard Montgomery to instil pride in his troops. The 3rd held their ground and pushed on with other divisions to capture the village of Arinez. The 3rd Division was also present at the Battle of Quatre Bras, 5/390 5x9lb guns 1x5.5 inch Howitzer Cleeves Field Brigade Kings German Legion 6/209 5x9lb guns 1x5. The 3rd Division served on the Western Front in France and Belgium for four years, during this time, it was nicknamed The Iron Division. Its first commander during the war, Major-General Hubert Hamilton, was killed by shellfire near Béthune in October 1914, 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment 4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment The following battalions joined the brigade for periods in 1915 and 1916. After the end of the First World War, the division was stationed in southern England where it formed part of Southern Command, in 1937, one of its brigades, the 9th Infantry Brigade, was commanded by Brigadier Bernard Montgomery. He assumed command of the 3rd Division shortly before Britain declared war on Nazi Germany in September 1939. The 3rd Infantry Division, under the command of Major General Bernard Montgomery, was sent overseas to France in late September 1939, there the division became part of Lieutenant General Alan Brookes II Corps of the British Expeditionary Force. However, unlike in the First World War, where the division was almost immediately engaged in desperate fighting, Montgomery instantly began training the men of his division in a tough training regime. As with most of the rest of the BEF, training was hampered by a shortage of modern equipment. In May 1940, after months of relative inactivity, the German Army launched its attack in the west which resulted in the BEF being split up from the French Army. Due to Montgomerys strict training regime, the 3rd Division suffered comparatively few casualties, the 3rd British Infantry Division was the first British formation to land at Sword Beach on D-Day,6 June 1944, as part of the invasion of Normandy, part of the larger Operation Overlord. For the assault landing, 3rd British Division was organised as a Division Group and these included 27th Armoured Brigade and 22nd Dragoons, 1st Special Service Brigade and No. The divisions own artillery were all self-propelled and the SP field guns, after D-Day the 3rd Infantry Division fought through the Battle for Caen, in Operation Charnwood and Operation Goodwood

35.
50th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)
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The 50th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that saw distinguished service in the Second World War. Pre-war, the division was part of the Territorial Army and the two Ts in the divisional insignia represent the three rivers of its recruitment area, namely the rivers Tyne, Tees and Humber. The 50th Division was one of two British divisions to land in Normandy on D-Day,6 June 1944, where it landed on Gold Beach. Four men of the division were awarded the Victoria Cross during the war, the 50th Division had been reformed in 1920 as an infantry division of the Territorial Force, which was soon renamed as the Territorial Army. By March the division was at work preparing the defences in the Lille—Loos area, with the German attack on the West on 10 May, the British and French acted according to their Dyle Plan and advanced to the River Dyle in Belgium. The next day the 25th Infantry Brigade and other supporting units were added to the division while it was in reserve on the Belgian border, instead of divisions, the attack was made by two battalion sized columns, with many tanks of the armoured units already unserviceable. French tanks and troop carriers enabled British soldiers to evacuate Warlus, next day the Germans regrouped and continued their advance, Frankforce had taken around 400 German prisoners and inflicted a similar number of casualties, as well as destroying a number of tanks. The attack had been so effective that 7th Panzer Division believed it had been attacked by five infantry divisions, the attack also made the German commanders of Panzergruppe von Kleist nervous, with forces left behind to guard lines of communication. By now Arras was becoming a salient in the German lines, the four Brigades of the 5th and 50th Divisions were becoming hard pressed and on the night of 23–24 May received orders to withdraw to the canal line. It was late on 27 May when the 50th Division arrived at Ypres to find their positions already being shelled, the gap was covered by the side-stepping 3rd Division, under the-then Major-General Bernard Montgomery, the next day. On that day the Belgians surrendered, opening up a 20-mile gap south from the English Channel, in contact with the Germans from the start the 50th Division was forced back and by late 30 May was in the eastern end of the Dunkirk perimeter. The division was reinforced by some remnants from the 23rd Division on 31 May, withdrawn to the beach on 1 June, the 151st Brigade was informed it may be used in a diversionary attack to cover the evacuation and formed two columns, but this became unnecessary. That night the 50th Division was evacuated from the beaches and the Mole and it become part of XII Corps, Home Forces, on anti-invasion duty, stationed initially in and to the West of Bournemouth, later on the North coast of Somerset. The 50th Division was first informed of a move in September 1940 to North Africa. The remainder of the division sailed from Glasgow on 23 May, while in the North Atlantic the majority of the escorts of the Glasgow convoy were detailed away from the convoy in the search for the Bismark leaving only the cruiser HMS Exeter. In June the division, now under the command of Major General William Ramsden, landed at Port Tewfik, the rest of the division was sent to Cyprus, where it constructed defences on the island, especially around the airport and city of Nicosia. Reunited in July, the division continued its work in the pleasant surroundings, leaving in November. In December the 69th Brigade was sent to Baalbek in Syria to relieve the 6th Australian Division which was returning to Australia, in February 1942 the 69th and 151st Brigades were recalled to Egypt

36.
3rd Canadian Division
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The 3rd Canadian Division is a formation of the Canadian Army. It was first created as a formation of the Canadian Corps during the First World War and it was stood down following the war and was later reactivated as the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division during the Second World War. The second iteration served with distinction from 1941 to 1945, taking part in the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944, a duplicate of the 3rd Canadian Division was formed in 1945 to serve on occupation duty in Germany, and was disbanded the following year. In 2013, Land Force Western Area, a military organization in western Canada, was ordered to be redesignated as 3rd Canadian Division. On 6 June 2014, the 3rd Canadian Division adopted the insignia, traditions, from the middle of 1916, the division has been identified by a distinctive French-Grey patch worn on the uniforms of its soldiers. The 3rd Canadian Division was formed in France in December 1915 under the command of Major-General Malcolm Mercer and its members served in France and Flanders until Armistice Day. While with the 3rd Division at Ypres, Mercer became the highest-ranking Canadian officer killed in action during the First World War. On the same day, Brigadier V. A. Williams, commanding the 8th Infantry Brigade, became the highest-ranking Canadian officer captured in the First World War, also at the Battle of Mount Sorrel. Mercer was replaced by Louis Lipsett, who commanded the division until September 1918, shortly before he too was killed in action on 14 October 1918, Major-General Frederick Loomis closed out World War I as the commander. 7th Infantry Brigade, The Royal Canadian Regiment, December 1915 –11 November 1918, Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry. 24 December 1915 –11 November 1918, 42nd Battalion Canadian Infantry, December 1915 –11 November 1918, 49th Battalion Canadian Infantry. December 1915 –11 November 1918, 8th Infantry Brigade, 1st Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, CEF. December 1915 –11 November 1918, 2nd Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, December 1915 –11 November 1918, 4th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, CEF. December 1915 –11 November 1918, 5th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, December 1915 –11 November 1918. 9th Infantry Brigade, 43rd Battalion Canadian Infantry, January 1916 –11 November 1918, 52nd Battalion Canadian Infantry. January 1916 –11 November 1918, 58th Battalion Canadian Infantry, January 1916 –11 November 1918, 60th Battalion Canadian Infantry. January 1916 –30 April 1917, April 1917 –11 November 1918. 8 January 1916 – May 1917, 123rd Canadian Pioneer Battalion, to the 3rd Canadian Engineer Brigade

37.
Invasion of Normandy
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The Western Allies of World War II launched the largest amphibious invasion in history when they assaulted Normandy, located on the northern coast of France, on 6 June 1944. The invaders were able to establish a beachhead as part of Operation Overlord after a successful D-Day, Allied land forces came from the United States, Britain, Canada, and Free French forces. The Normandy invasion began with overnight parachute and glider landings, massive air attacks, the invasion began and during the evening the remaining elements of the airborne divisions landed. Land forces used on D-Day sailed from bases along the south coast of England, Allied forces rehearsed their D-Day roles for months before the invasion. On 28 April 1944, in south Devon on the English coast,749 U. S. soldiers and sailors were killed when German torpedo boats surprised one of these landing exercises, Exercise Tiger. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allied forces conducted an operation, Operation Fortitude, aimed at misleading the Germans with respect to the date. There were several leaks prior to or on D-Day, through the Cicero affair, the Germans obtained documents containing references to Overlord, but these documents lacked all detail. Double Cross agents, such as the Spaniard Juan Pujol, played an important role in convincing the German High Command that Normandy was at best a diversionary attack. After being told, Eisenhower reduced Miller to lieutenant colonel and sent him back to the U. S. where he retired, another such leak was General Charles de Gaulles radio message after D-Day. He, unlike all the leaders, stated that this invasion was the real invasion. This had the potential to ruin the Allied deceptions Fortitude North, in contrast, Gen. Eisenhower referred to the landings as the initial invasion. A full moon occurred on 6 June, Allied Expeditionary Force Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower had tentatively selected 5 June as the date for the assault. The weather was fine during most of May, but deteriorated in early June, the Allied troop convoys already at sea were forced to take shelter in bays and inlets on the south coast of Britain for the night. It seemed possible that everything would have to be cancelled and the returned to their embarkation camps. The next full moon period would be nearly a month away, at a vital meeting on 5 June, Eisenhowers chief meteorologist forecast a brief improvement for 6 June. Commander of all forces for the invasion General Bernard Montgomery. Commander of the Allied Air Forces Air Chief Marshal Leigh Mallory was doubtful, on the strength of Staggs forecast, Eisenhower ordered the invasion to proceed. As a result, prevailing overcast skies limited Allied air support, some troops stood down and many senior officers were away for the weekend

38.
Battle of Meiktila
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The concurrent Battle of Meiktila and Battle of Mandalay were decisive engagements near the end of the Burma Campaign. Collectively, they are referred to as the Battle of Central Burma. Despite logistical difficulties, the Allies were able to large armoured and mechanised forces in Central Burma. Most of the Japanese forces in Burma were destroyed during the battles, allowing the Allies to later recapture the capital, Rangoon, in 1944, the Japanese had sustained several defeats in the mountainous frontier regions of Burma. In particular, at the Battle of Imphal and Battle of Kohima, the heavy Japanese defeat prompted them to make sweeping changes among their commanders and senior staff officers in Burma. On 1 September 1944, Lieutenant General Hyotaro Kimura was appointed commander of the Burma Area Army, at this stage of the war, the Japanese were in retreat on most fronts and were concentrating their resources for the defence of the homeland. Kimura had formerly been Vice-Minister for War, and had held posts with responsibility for mobilising Japanese industry for the war effort. It was hoped that he could use the fields, factories. Lieutenant General Shinichi Tanaka was appointed to be Kimuras Chief of Staff and he had formerly commanded the 18th Infantry Division in Northern Burma, and had a reputation for inflexible determination. Japanese losses in Burma and India in 1944 had been catastrophic and they were made up with drafts of conscripts, many of whom were not of the best physical categories. Kimuras staff decreed that their divisions in Burma should have a strength of 10,000, to face massed Allied armour, they would be forced to deploy their field artillery in the front line, which would affect their ability to give concentrated fire support to the infantry. Expedients such as mines, or suicide attacks by men wearing explosive charges, were not effective if the enemy tanks were closely supported by infantry. Their 5th Air Division, deployed in Burma, had reduced to only a few dozen aircraft to face 1,200 Allied aircraft. Their 14th Tank Regiment possessed only 20 tanks, Kimura accepted that his forces stood little chance against the numerically and materially superior Allies in open terrain. He hoped that the Allies would be overstretched trying to overcome this obstacle, the Allied South East Asia Command had begun making plans to reconquer Burma as early as June 1944. One was to reoccupy Northern Burma only, to allow the Ledo Road to be completed, thus linking India and this was rejected, as it could use only a fraction of the available forces and fulfilled only an out-of-date strategic aim. A second option was to capture Rangoon, the capital and main seaport and this was also impractical, as it would require landing craft and other resources which would not be available until the end of the War in Europe. By default, the plan adopted was for an offensive into Central Burma by the British Fourteenth Army under Lieutenant General William Slim, to reconquer Burma from the north

39.
Kangaroo (armoured personnel carrier)
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A Kangaroo was a Second World War Commonwealth or British armoured personnel carrier, created by converting a tank chassis. Created as an expedient measure by the Canadian Army, Kangaroos were so successful that they were soon being used by British forces and they were frst used on 8 August 1944 south of Caen during Operation Totalize to supplement the half-tracks already available. In Italy, Sherman III tanks and some Priests were converted for use by the British Eighth Army, removing the turret of the Sherman and some internal fittings gave room for carrying up to 10 troops. From 1943, Stuart tanks had their turrets removed and seating fitted to carry infantry troops attached to British armoured brigades, lorraine 37L Churchill tank Sherman tank Operation Totalize BTR-T and IDF Achzarit, less haphazard conversions of T-55s into APCs. Namer Nagmachon The Battle for the Rhine 1944,2005, Robin Neillands Priest Kangaroo at web. inter. nl. net Ram Kangaroo at mapleleafup. org Canadian Kangaroos. CA, dedicated to 1CACR

40.
Armoured personnel carrier
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An armoured personnel carrier is a type of armoured fighting vehicle designed to transport infantry to the battlefield. APCs are colloquially referred to as taxis or battle buses. Armoured personnel carriers are distinguished from infantry fighting vehicles by the weaponry they carry, by convention, they are not intended to take part in direct-fire battle, but are armed for self-defence and armoured to provide protection from shrapnel and small arms fire. Examples include the American M113, the French VAB, the Dutch-German GTK Boxer, the genesis of the armoured personnel carrier was on the Western Front of World War I. In the later stage of the war, Allied tanks could break through enemy lines, without infantry support, the tanks were isolated and more easily destroyed. In response, the British experimented with carrying machine-gun crews in the Mark V* tank, britain therefore designed the first purpose built armoured troop transport, the Mark IX, but the war ended before it could be put to use. During World War II, half-tracks like the American M3 and German SdKfz 251 played a similar to post-war APCs. British Commonwealth forces relied on the full-tracked Universal Carrier, over the course of the war, APCs evolved from simple armoured cars with transport capacity, to purpose built vehicles. Obsolete armoured vehicles were also repurposed as APCs, such as the various Kangaroos converted from M7 Priest self-propelled guns and from Churchill, M3 Stuart, during the Cold War, more specialized APCs were developed. Western nations have since retired most M113s, replacing them with newer APCs, the Soviet Union produced the BTR-40, BTR-152, BTR-60, BTR-70, BTR-80 in large numbers. The BTR-60 and BTR-80 remain in production, czechoslovakia and Poland together developed the universal amphibious OT-64 SKOT. A cold war example of a Kangaroo is the heavily armoured Israeli Achzarit, weight can vary from 6 to 40 tons or more, but 9 to 20 tons is typical. Most have a capacity of between 8 and 12 dismountable troops, although some can carry more than 20, in addition, it has a crew of at least one driver, many with a gunner and/or commander as well. An APC is either wheeled or tracked, or occasionally a combination of the two, as in a half-track, both systems have advantages and limitations. Tracked vehicles have more traction off-road and more maneuverability, including a turn radius. Wheeled APCs are faster on road, can cross long distances, and are expensive to develop, produce. However, wheeled vehicles have higher pressure than tracked vehicles with a comparable weight. The higher ground pressure increases the likelihood of becoming immobilized by soft terrains such as mud and their tracks can propel the APC in the water

41.
Battle for Cebu City
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The Battle for Cebu City was a major engagement of World War II that occurred between March 26 and April 8,1945, during the second Philippines Campaign. The battle resulted in an Allied victory over the occupying Japanese Army, after launching their campaign to recapture the Philippines at Leyte in October 1944, the Allies followed up that victory by dispatching troops to Luzon in January 1945. A month later, General Douglas MacArthur, overall commander of Allied forces in the Pacific, General Robert L. Eichelbergers Eighth Army was then tasked with conducting a series of amphibious landings in the southern Philippines on islands between Mindanao and Luzon, including Cebu. Prior to the war, Cebu had been the Philippines second-most important industrial center, the island was garrisoned by a force of between 14,500 and 15,000 Japanese troops. These were situated mainly in Cebu City and on the central east coast, drawn from the 35th Army, the majority of these troops were support troops who had been supporting the evacuation of Luzon, and who were formed into combat units. There were also several naval units on the island, including the 33rd Special Base Force. Following a preliminary bombardment, the battle began on March 26,1945, under the leadership of Major General William H. The 182nd came ashore southwest of the city, while the 132nd landed at a gravel beach to the northeast opposite a palm grove. Meeting no Japanese opposition, the U. S. forces nevertheless suffered heavily from mines and it was the first time in the Philippines campaign that U. S. troops had encountered such weapons. As further waves landed, engineers and infantry began clearing lanes through the mine fields, the Americal Division slowly forced its way off the beach and moved inland against only small pockets of Japanese resistance that were carrying out delaying actions. The main body stopped for the night about 1.5 miles from Cebu City, on March 28, more significant fighting broke out as the Americans captured the airfield, as well as Mactan Island in Cebu Harbor. At this time, Japanese resistance grew more determined and heavy fighting followed, around 8,500 local Cebuano guerrilla and irregular forces, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James M. Cushing took part. Units fought on the outskirts of Cebu, capturing Pari-an on March 29, many did not make it and were trapped within Piers One and Two. Led by Major Rijome Kawahara, after further fighting these forces were defeated, Kawahara was killed while trying to cross the makeshift bridge towards Mandaue City. Reportedly, he was killed by a sniper after being incapacitated by mortar, Kawahara was posthumously promoted to the rank of colonel. After the war, his body was returned to Japan where it was buried in Sapporo, during the final stages of the battle, the mountainous parts of Cebu were also bombed and cleared. A series of battles were fought during this time, the most famous of which is the Battle of Gochan Hill. Forces finally took the hill, having destroyed at least 85 pillboxes, in early April two battalions from the Americal Divisions third regiment, the 164th, were dispatched to Cebu as reinforcements

42.
The Battle of the Bulge
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The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive campaign of World War II. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, the surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. American forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred their highest casualties of any operation during the war, the battle also severely depleted Germanys armoured forces on the Western Front, and they were largely unable to replace them. German personnel and later, Luftwaffe aircraft, also sustained heavy losses, the Germans officially referred to the offensive as Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein, while the Allies designated it the Ardennes Counteroffensive. The phrase Battle of the Bulge was coined by contemporary press to describe the bulge in German front lines on wartime news maps, once that was accomplished, the German dictator Adolf Hitler believed he could fully concentrate on the Soviets on the Eastern Front. The offensive was planned by the German forces with utmost secrecy, with minimal radio traffic and movements of troops, intercepted German communications indicating a substantial German offensive preparation were not acted upon by the Allies. The Germans achieved total surprise on the morning of 16 December 1944, due to a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with Allied offensive plans, and poor aerial reconnaissance. The Germans attacked a weakly defended section of the Allied line, columns of armor and infantry that were supposed to advance along parallel routes found themselves on the same roads. This, and terrain that favored the defenders, threw the German advance behind schedule, improved weather conditions permitted air attacks on German forces and supply lines, which sealed the failure of the offensive. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment, the Germans initial attack involved 406,000 men,1,214 tanks, tank destroyers, and assault guns, and 4,224 artillery pieces. These were reinforced a couple of later, bringing the offensives total strength to around 450,000 troops. Between 67,200 and 125,000 of their men were killed, missing, for the Americans, out of 610,000 troops involved in the battle,89,000 were casualties. While some sources report that up to 19,000 were killed, British historian Antony Beevor reports the number killed as 8,407. It was the largest and bloodiest battle fought by the United States in World War II, after the breakout from Normandy at the end of July 1944 and the Allied landings in southern France on 15 August 1944, the Allies advanced toward Germany more quickly than anticipated. The Allies were faced with several military logistics issues, - troops were fatigued by weeks of continuous combat supply lines were stretched extremely thin supplies were dangerously depleted. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and his staff chose to hold the Ardennes region which was occupied by the U. S, the Allies chose to defend the Ardennes with as few troops as possible due to the favorable terrain and limited Allied operational objectives in the area. They also had intelligence that the Wehrmacht was using the area across the German border as an area for its troops. The speed of the Allied advance coupled with a lack of deep-water ports presented the Allies with enormous supply problems

43.
Six Day War
–
The Six-Day War, also known as the June War,1967 Arab–Israeli War, or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10,1967 by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Relations between Israel and its neighbours had never fully normalised following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, in the period leading up to June 1967, tensions became dangerously heightened. In reaction to the mobilisation of Egyptian forces along the Israeli border in the Sinai Peninsula, the Egyptians were caught by surprise, and nearly the entire Egyptian air force was destroyed with few Israeli losses, giving the Israelis air superiority. Simultaneously, the Israelis launched an offensive into the Gaza Strip and the Sinai. After some initial resistance, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered the evacuation of the Sinai, Israeli forces rushed westward in pursuit of the Egyptians, inflicted heavy losses, and conquered the Sinai. Nasser induced Syria and Jordan to begin attacks on Israel by using the initially confused situation to claim that Egypt had defeated the Israeli air strike. Israeli counterattacks resulted in the seizure of East Jerusalem as well as the West Bank from the Jordanians, on June 11, a ceasefire was signed. Arab casualties were far heavier than those of Israel, fewer than a thousand Israelis had been killed compared to over 20,000 from the Arab forces. Israels military success was attributed to the element of surprise, an innovative and well-executed battle plan, Israel seized control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Israeli morale and international prestige was greatly increased by the outcome of the war, across the Arab world, Jewish minority communities were expelled, with refugees going to Israel or Europe. After the 1956 Suez Crisis, Egypt agreed to the stationing of a United Nations Emergency Force in the Sinai to ensure all parties would comply with the 1949 Armistice Agreements, in the following years there were numerous minor border clashes between Israel and its Arab neighbors, particularly Syria. In early November 1966, Syria signed a defense agreement with Egypt. Jordanian units that engaged the Israelis were quickly beaten back, King Hussein of Jordan criticized Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser for failing to come to Jordans aid, and hiding behind UNEF skirts. In May 1967, Nasser received false reports from the Soviet Union that Israel was massing on the Syrian border, the right of innocent, maritime passage must be preserved for all nations. On May 30, Jordan and Egypt signed a defense pact, the following day, at Jordans invitation, the Iraqi army began deploying troops and armoured units in Jordan. They were later reinforced by an Egyptian contingent, on June 1, Israel formed a National Unity Government by widening its cabinet, and on June 4 the decision was made to go to war. The next morning, Israel launched Operation Focus, a surprise air strike that was the opening of the Six-Day War. Before the war, Israeli pilots and ground crews had trained extensively in rapid refitting of aircraft returning from sorties and this has contributed to the Arab belief that the IAF was helped by foreign air forces

44.
War of Attrition
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Attrition warfare is a military strategy consisting of belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and materiel. The war will usually be won by the side with such resources. The word attrition comes from the Latin root atterere to rub against, military theorists and strategists have viewed attrition warfare as something to be avoided. On the other hand, a side that perceives itself to be at a disadvantage in manoeuvre warfare or unit tactics may deliberately seek out attrition warfare to neutralize its opponents advantages. If the sides are evenly matched, the outcome of a war of attrition is likely to be a Pyrrhic victory. The difference between war of attrition and other forms of war is somewhat artificial since war always contains an element of attrition. That should be seen as opposed to other goals such as the conquest of some resource or territory or an attempt to cause the enemy great losses in a single stroke. Historically, attritional methods are tried only as a last resort, typically, when attritional methods have worn down the enemy sufficiently to make other methods feasible, attritional methods are abandoned in favor of other strategies. In World War I, improvements in firepower but not communications and mobility forced military commanders to rely on attrition, attritional methods are in themselves usually sufficient to cause a nation to give up a nonvital ambition, but other methods are generally necessary to achieve unconditional surrender. It is often argued that the example of attrition warfare was on the Western Front during World War I. Both military forces found themselves in static positions in trenches running from Switzerland to the English Channel. For years, without any opportunity for manoeuvres, the way the commanders thought that they could defeat the enemy was to repeatedly attack head on. One of the most enduring examples of attrition warfare on the Western Front is the Battle of Verdun, erich von Falkenhayn later claimed that his tactics at Verdun were designed not to take the city but rather to destroy the French Army in its defense. Falkenhayn is described as wanting to bleed France white and thus the attrition tactics were employed in the battle, attritional warfare in World War I has been shown by historians such as Hew Strachan to have been used as a post hoc ergo propter hoc excuse for failed offensives. Contemporary sources disagree with Strachans view on this, while the Christmas Memorandum is a post-war invention, the strategy of Bleeding France white was the original strategy for the battle. Attrition to the enemy was easy to assert and difficult to refute and that is not to say that a general will not be prepared to sustain high casualties while trying to reach an objective. The delaying tactics of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus against Hannibal Barca during the Second Punic War, the Israeli–Egyptian War of Attrition from 1967–1970. The Soviet war in Afghanistan The later phases of the Iran–Iraq War The War in Afghanistan The Sri Lankan Civil War after 2005 The 2011 Libyan civil war is arguably an example of attrition warfare, the Syrian Civil War, in particular the Battle of Aleppo

45.
Yom Kippur War
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The fighting mostly took place in the Sinai and the Golan Heights, territories that had been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat wanted also to reopen the Suez Canal, neither specifically planned to destroy Israel, although the Israeli leaders could not be sure of that. Egyptian and Syrian forces crossed ceasefire lines to enter the Sinai Peninsula, both the United States and the Soviet Union initiated massive resupply efforts to their respective allies during the war, and this led to a near-confrontation between the two nuclear superpowers. The war began with a massive and successful Egyptian crossing of the Suez Canal, after crossing the cease-fire lines, Egyptian forces advanced virtually unopposed into the Sinai Peninsula. After three days, Israel had mobilized most of its forces and halted the Egyptian offensive, resulting in a military stalemate, the Syrians coordinated their attack on the Golan Heights to coincide with the Egyptian offensive and initially made threatening gains into Israeli-held territory. Within three days, however, Israeli forces had pushed the Syrians back to the ceasefire lines. The Israel Defense Forces then launched a four-day counter-offensive deep into Syria, within a week, Israeli artillery began to shell the outskirts of Damascus. He therefore ordered the Egyptians to go back on the offensive, on October 22 a United Nations–brokered ceasefire quickly unraveled, with each side blaming the other for the breach. By October 24, the Israelis had improved their positions considerably and completed their encirclement of Egypts Third Army and this development led to tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. As a result, a ceasefire was imposed cooperatively on October 25 to end the war. These changes paved the way for the subsequent peace process, the 1978 Camp David Accords that followed led to the return of the Sinai to Egypt and normalized relations—the first peaceful recognition of Israel by an Arab country. Egypt continued its drift away from the Soviet Union and left the Soviet sphere of influence entirely, the war was part of the Arab–Israeli conflict, an ongoing dispute that included many battles and wars since 1948, when the state of Israel was formed. During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel had captured Egypts Sinai Peninsula, roughly half of Syrias Golan Heights, and the territories of the West Bank which had been held by Jordan since 1948. On June 19,1967, shortly after the Six-Day War, the Israeli government voted to return the Sinai to Egypt, the Arab position, as it emerged in September 1967 at the Khartoum Arab Summit, was to reject any peaceful settlement with the state of Israel. Prior to that, King Hussein of Jordan had stated that he could not rule out a possibility of a real, permanent peace between Israel and the Arab states. Armed hostilities continued on a limited scale after the Six-Day War and escalated into the War of Attrition, a ceasefire was signed in August 1970. President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt died in September 1970 and he was succeeded by Anwar Sadat. A peace initiative led by both Sadat and UN intermediary Gunnar Jarring was tabled in 1971 and it resembled a proposal independently made by Moshe Dayan

46.
Golan Heights
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The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan or the Syrian Golan, is a region in the Levant. As a geopolitical region, the Golan Heights is the area captured from Syria and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War and this region includes the western two-thirds of the geological Golan Heights, as well as the Israeli-occupied part of Mount Hermon. The earliest evidence of habitation dates to the Upper Paleolithic period. According to the Bible, an Amorite Kingdom in Bashan was conquered by Israelites during the reign of King Og, throughout the Old Testament period, the Golan was the focus of a power struggle between the Kings of Israel and the Aramaeans who were based near modern-day Damascus. The Itureans, an Arab or Aramaic people, settled there in the 2nd century BCE, organized Jewish settlement in the region came to an end in 636 CE when it was conquered by Arabs under Umar ibn al-Khattāb. In the 16th century, the Golan was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and was part of the Vilayet of Damascus until it was transferred to French control in 1918, when the mandate terminated in 1946, it became part of the newly independent Syrian Arab Republic. Internationally recognized as Syrian territory, the Golan Heights has been occupied and administered by Israel since 1967 and it was captured during the 1967 Six-Day War, establishing the Purple Line. On 19 June 1967, the Israeli cabinet voted to return the Golan to Syria in exchange for a peace agreement, although this was rejected after the Khartoum Resolution of 1 September 1967. In the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which Syria tried but failed to recapture the Golan and this part was incorporated into a demilitarised zone that runs along the ceasefire line and extends eastward. This strip is under the control of UNDOF. Israel states it has a right to retain the Golan, citing the text of UN Resolution 242, however, the international community reject Israeli claims to title to the territory and regards it as sovereign Syrian territory. Historically, Israeli Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak, later, in 2010, Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman told Syria to abandon its dreams of recovering the Golan Heights. Approximately 10% of Syrian Golan Druze have accepted Israeli citizenship, according to the CIA World Factbook, as of 2010, there are 41 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Arabic names are Jawlān and Djolan, in the Bible, Golan is mentioned as a city of refuge located in Bashan, Deuteronomy 4,43, Joshua 20,8,1 Chronicles 6,71. Nineteenth-century authors interpreted the word Golan as meaning something surrounded, hence a district, the Greek name for the region is Gaulanitis. In the Mishna the name is Gablān similar to Aramaic language names for the region, Gawlāna, Guwlana, Arab cartographers of the Byzantine period referred to the area as jabal, though the region is a plateau. The Muslims took over in 7th century CE, the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia refers to the region as Gaulonitis. The name Golan Heights was not used before the 19th century, the Golan Heights borders Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan

47.
M4 Sherman
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The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most numerous battle tank used by the United States and some of the other Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, thousands were distributed through the Lend-Lease program to the British Commonwealth and Soviet Union. The tank was named by the British for the American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, the M4 Sherman evolved from the interim M3 Medium Tank, which had its main armament in a side sponson mount. The M4 retained much of the mechanical design, but put the main 75 mm gun in a fully traversing turret. The designers stressed mechanical reliability, ease of production and maintenance, durability, standardization of parts and ammunition in a number of variants. These factors, combined with the Shermans then-superior armor and armament, outclassed German light, the M4 went on to be produced in large numbers. It spearheaded many offensives by the Western Allies after 1942, for this reason, the US Army believed that the M4 would be adequate to win the war, and no pressure was exerted for further tank development. Logistical and transport restrictions, such as limitations imposed by roads, ports, Tank destroyer battalions using vehicles built on the M4 hull and chassis, but with open-topped turrets and more potent high-velocity guns, also entered widespread use in the Allied armies. Even by 1944, most M4 Shermans kept their dual purpose 75 mm gun, some Shermans were produced with a more capable gun, the 76 mm gun M1, or refitted with a 17-pounder by the British. These factors combined to give the Allies numerical superiority in most battles, the U. S. Army Ordnance Department designed the M4 medium tank as a replacement for the M3 medium tank. The M3 was a development of the M2 Medium Tank of 1939. The M3 was developed as a stopgap measure until a new turret mounting a 75 mm gun could be devised, though reluctant to adopt the British army weapons in their entirety the American designers were prepared to accept proved British ideas. British ideas, as embodied with in a designed by the Canadian General Staff. Before long American Services and designers had accumulated sufficient experience to forge ahead on several points, in the field of tank armament the American 75mm and 76mm dual-purpose tank guns won the acknowledgement of British tank experts. On 18 April 1941, the U. S, Armored Force Board chose the simplest of five designs. Known as the T6, the design was a modified M3 hull and chassis and this would later became the Sherman. The goals were to produce a fast, dependable medium tank able to support infantry, provide breakthrough striking capacity, the T6 prototype was completed on 2 September 1941. The T6 upper hull was a large casting

Self-propelled artillery
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Self-propelled artillery is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move towards its target. Within the term are covered self-propelled guns and rocket artillery and they are high mobility vehicles, usually based on continuous tracks carrying either a large howitzer, field gun, a mortar or some form of rocket or missile launcher. They

1.
British AS-90s firing in Basra, Iraq, 2006.

2.
A Panzerhaubitze 2000 of the German Army arriving in Afghanistan

3.
A 2S19 Msta -M2 of the Russian Army

4.
Zamburaks were swivel guns mounted atop camels to provide swift-moving artillery during the early to mid-eighteenth century in west Asian military cultures. They saw extensive use during the Naderian Wars.

United States Army
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The United States Army is the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces and performs land-based military operations. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784, the United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception f

1.
Storming of Redoubt #10 in the Siege of Yorktown during the American Revolutionary War prompted the British government to begin negotiations, resulting in the Treaty of Paris and British recognition of the United States of America.

2.
Emblem of the United States Department of the Army

3.
General Andrew Jackson stands on the parapet of his makeshift defenses as his troops repulse attacking Highlanders during the defense of New Orleans, the final major battle of the War of 1812

4.
The Battle of Gettysburg, the turning point of the American Civil War

Argentine Army
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The Argentine Army is the land armed force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of the country. Under the Argentine Constitution, the President of Argentina is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the Armys official foundation date is May 29,1810, four days after the Spanish colonial administra

1.
Gral José de San Martín during Battle of Chacabuco, 1817

3.
The Argentine army soldiers with standard uniform in 1938, note the similarity with uniform Wehrmacht.

4.
Argentine troops in 1943.

Belgian army
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The Land Component is the land-based branch of the Belgian Armed Forces. The current chief of staff of the Land Component is Major-General Jean-Paul Deconinck, for a detailed history of the Belgian Army from 1830 to post 1945 see Belgian Armed Forces. Ranks in use by the Belgian Army are listed at Belgian military ranks, at the outbreak of war this

1.
A detachment of the 2nd/4th Regiment Mounted Rifles at the 2007 Bastille Day Military Parade.

2.
The Regiment of Grenadiers on maneuvers 1894

3.
Belgian soldiers with FN FNC assault rifles.

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Belgian Special Forces Group soldier with a FN SCAR-H rifle.

British Army
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The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. As of 2017 the British Army comprises just over 80,000 trained Regular, or full-time, personnel and just over 26,500 trained Reserve, or part-time personnel. Therefore, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least on

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Men of the Welsh Guards Trooping the Colour 2007.

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John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, was one of the first generals in the British Army, fighting campaigns in the War of the Spanish Succession.

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The extinction of the Scottish clan system came with the defeat of the clansmen at the Battle of Culloden in 1746

Canadian Army
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The Canadian Army is one of three environmental commands within the unified Canadian Armed Forces. As of September 2013 the Army has 21,600 regular soldiers, about 24,000 reserve soldiers, the Army is supported by 5,600 civilian employees. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is responsible for the Army Reserve. The Command

Israel Defense Forces
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The Israel Defense Forces, commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal, are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the forces, air force, and navy. It is the military wing of the Israeli security forces. The IDF is headed by its Chief of General Staff, the Ramatkal, subordinate to the Defense Minister of Israel, Lieut

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Major-Gen. Ariel Sharon (left), during the Battle of Abu-Ageila, June 1967

Norwegian army
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Norway achieved full independence in 1905, and in the first century of its short life has contributed to three major conflicts, World War II, the Cold War and the War on Terror. The Norwegian Army currently operates in Northern Norway and in Afghanistan as well as in Eastern Europe, the Army is the oldest of the service branches, established as a m

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The Norwegian Krag–Jørgensen repeating bolt action rifle.

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Norwegian Army Hæren

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Gloster Gladiator of the Norwegian Army Air Service in 1940

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CV90 's from the Norwegian Army in Afghanistan

Pakistan Army
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Pakistan Army is the land-based service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. It came into existence after the independence of Pakistan in 1947, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies it had an active force of approximately 620,000 active personnel as of 2017. In Pakistan, there is 16–23 years of age for military service. Pak

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General Ayub Khan arriving to take command of the Pakistan Army in 1951

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Emblem of the Pakistan Army

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Two AH-1S Cobra attack helicopters of the Pakistan Army Aviation Wing at AVN Base, Multan. These were sold to Pakistan by the US during the Soviet-Afghan war to help defend Pakistan against a possible attack by the Soviets.

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A Pakistan Army soldier keeping watch at Baine Baba Ziarat in Swat

Philippine Army
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The Philippine Army, is the main, oldest and largest branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines responsible for ground warfare. Commanding General, Lieutenant General Eduardo Año, former Chief of Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and its main headquarters is located at Fort Bonifacio, Taguig, Metro Manila. Years of Span

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Philippine Army Staff Sgt. Manolo Martin demonstrates the proper method of holding a cobra during a survival course in the Balikatan Exercise 2008.

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Philippine Army Emblem

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Philippine Army Special Forces freefall jumpers with Special Operations Command, stationed at Fort Magsaysay

Philippine Constabulary
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The Philippine Constabulary was a gendarmerie-type police force of the Philippines from 1901 to 1991. It was created by the American colonial government to replace the Spanish colonial Guardia Civil and it was the first of the four service commands of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. On January 29,1991, it was merged with the Integrated Nationa

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Two Constables posing for a photo in the New York Tribune in 1905.

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Philippine Constabulary Emblem

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Cornelius C. Smith (far right), a recipient of the Medal of Honor, as commander of the Philippine Constabulary with Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing and Moro chieftains in 1910. Smith participated in expeditions against the Moro rebels for much of his time in the Philippines.

Taiwanese Army
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The Republic of China Army is the largest branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces. An estimated 80% of the ROC Army is located on Taiwan, while the remainder are stationed on the islands of Kinmen, Matsu. As the final line of defense against an invasion by the Peoples Liberation Army. The ROC Armys current operational strength includes 3 armie

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General Chiu Kuo-cheng, the incumbent commander of the ROC Army

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Flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Army

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ROC Army Logistics Command

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ROC Army Chung Shyang II UAV

American Locomotive Company
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The American Locomotive Company was formed in 1901 by the merger of Schenectady Locomotive Engine Manufactory of Schenectady, New York with seven smaller locomotive manufacturers. The American Locomotive Automobile Company subsidiary designed and manufactured automobiles under the Alco brand from 1905-1913, the company changed its name to Alco Prod

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The plant in 1906

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American Locomotive Company

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Milwaukee Road 261, a 1944 American 4-8-4 steam locomotive

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American No 75214 Tr2 1319 at the Finnish Railway Museum

Vehicle armour
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Military vehicles are commonly armoured to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, missiles or shells, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include armoured fighting vehicles like tanks, aircraft and ships, civilian vehicles may also be armoured. These vehicles include cars used by reporters, officials and others in con

M101 howitzer
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The 105 mm M2A1 howitzer was a howitzer developed and used by the United States. It was the standard U. S. light field howitzer in World War II, entering production in 1941, it quickly gained a reputation for accuracy and a powerful punch. The M101A1 fired 105-millimetre high explosive semi-fixed ammunition and had a range of 11,270 metres, all of

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U.S. Marines fire a M101A1 howitzer during a ceremony in 2005

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Canadian soldiers fire a high explosive round with a C3 howitzer in 2009

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The only surviving prototype M2A2 Terra Star Auxiliary Propelled Howitzer at the Rock Island Arsenal Museum. Note the tri-star wheel system and auxiliary drive system on the right trail leg.

M2 Browning machine gun
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The M2 Machine Gun or Browning.50 Caliber Machine Gun is a heavy machine gun designed toward the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Brownings earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, the M2 uses the much larger and much more powerful.50 BMG cartridge, which was developed alongside and takes its name from the gun itself. It has

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M2HB heavy machine gun

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A U.S. Marine mans a.50 caliber machine gun as part of a security force during a training exercise with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in November 2002.

Wright R-975
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The Wright R-975 Whirlwind was a series of nine-cylinder air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by the Wright Aeronautical division of Curtiss-Wright. These engines had a displacement of about 975 in³ and power ratings of 300-450 hp and they were the largest members of the Wright Whirlwind engine family to be produced commercially, and they were

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R-975 Whirlwind

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The engine of a Grant tank is removed for overhaul by the mechanics of a light recovery section of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, 10 June 1942

Vertical volute spring suspension
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The vertical volute spring suspension system is a type of vehicle suspension system. This type of the system was mainly fitted on US and Italian tanks. During the 1930s, many innovations in the components of light tanks would make US tanks considerably reliable and these included rubber-bushed tracks, rear mounted radial engines and the vertical vo

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Vertical volute springs of Stuart tank

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VVSS of a M32 Tank Recovery Vehicle

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HVSS of a M-51 Super Sherman tank

World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directl

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Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the Battle of Wanjialing, Australian 25-pounder guns during the First Battle of El Alamein, German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the Lingayen Gulf, Wilhelm Keitel signing the German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad

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The League of Nations assembly, held in Geneva, Switzerland, 1930

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Adolf Hitler at a German National Socialist political rally in Weimar, October 1930

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Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the Second Italo-Abyssinian War

Bishop (artillery)
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A result of a rushed attempt to create a self-propelled gun, the vehicle had numerous problems, was produced in limited numbers and was soon replaced by better designs. The rapid manoeuvre warfare practiced in the North African Campaign led to a requirement for a self-propelled artillery vehicle armed with the 25-pounder gun-howitzer, in June 1941

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Bishop in the Western Desert, September 1942

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A Bishop deployed on an earth ramp at a former German airfield in Sicily, October 1943

T19 Howitzer Motor Carriage
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The T19 Howitzer Motor Carriage, was a 105 mm howitzer mounted on a M3 Half-track chassis. It saw service during World War II with the U. S. Army and its secondary armament consisted of an air-cooled.50 in M2 machine gun for local defense. It was produced by Diamond T between January 1942 and April 1942, the T19 Howitzer Gun Motor Carriage was simi

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A T19 Howitzer Motor Carriage.

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A T19 near Newport News, Virginia.

M3 Half-track
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The M3 Half-track, known officially as the Carrier, Personnel Half-track M3, was an American armored personnel carrier half-track widely used by the Allies during World War II and in the Cold War. Derived from the M2 Half Track Car, the slightly longer M3 was extensively produced, with about 15,000 units, the design was based on the Citroen-Kégress

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A T48 57 mm GMC / SU-57 in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Poklonnaya Hill Victory Park

M3 Lee
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The Medium Tank M3 was an American tank used during World War II. In Britain, the tank was called by two names based on the configuration and crew size. Tanks employing US pattern turrets were called the Lee, named after Confederate general Robert E. Lee, variants using British pattern turrets were known as Grant, named after U. S. general Ulysses

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Medium Tank M3, Fort Knox, June 1942

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M3 Lee being manufactured.

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Front view, M3.

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British M3 Grant (left) and Lee (right) at El Alamein (Egypt), in the Sahara Desert, 1942, showing differences between the British turret and the original design.

Chassis
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A chassis consists of an internal vehicle frame that supports an artificial object in its construction and use, can also provide protection for some internal parts. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, if the running gear such as wheels and transmission, and sometimes even the drivers seat, are included, then the assembly is

Howitzer
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In the taxonomies of artillery pieces used by European armies in the 17th to 20th centuries, the howitzer stood between the gun and the mortar. Howitzers, like other artillery equipment, are organized in groups called batteries. The English word howitzer comes from the Czech word houfnice, from houf, crowd, haufen, sometimes in the compound Gewalth

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Pre- WW1 290-mm howitzer battery at Charlottenlund Fort, Denmark

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Mountain howitzer firing

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12-pdr Napoleon at the Colorado State Capitol

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Nineteenth-century 12-pounder (5 kg) mountain howitzer displayed by the National Park Service at Fort Laramie in Wyoming, United States

M24 Chaffee
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In British service it was given the service name Chaffee after the United States Army General Adna R. Chaffee, Jr. who helped develop the use of tanks in the United States armed forces. While long removed from American and British service, it is found in service as a light tank in third-world countries. British combat experience in the North Africa

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A preserved M24

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M24 Chaffee moves on the outskirts of Salzburg, May 1945

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M24 Chaffee light tanks of the 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army, wait for an assault of North Korean T34/85 tanks at Masan.

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The French deployed several M24 tanks during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

North Africa campaign
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The North African Campaign of the Second World War took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco, the campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had colonial interests in Africa dating from the late 19th century. The Allied war ef

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A British Crusader tank passes a burning German Pz.Kpfw.IV tank during Operation Crusader, 27 November 1941.

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German prisoners captured during the Second Battle of El Alamein, November 1942

Eighth Army (United Kingdom)
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The Eighth Army was a field army and one of the best-known formations of the British Army during the Second World War, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns of World War II. Subordinate units came from Australia, British India, Canada, Free French Forces, Greece, New Zealand, Poland, Rhodesia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Sign

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Infantry advance during the Battle of El Alamein

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Emblem of the Eighth Army

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A County of London Yeomanry tank of the 8th army in the village of Milo near Catania in Sicily, August 1943 with local children on board

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Battle of Monte Cassino

Second Battle of El Alamein
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The Second Battle of El Alamein was a decisive battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. With the Allies victorious, it marked the watershed of the Western Desert Campaign, the First Battle of El Alamein had prevented the Axis from advancing further into Egypt. The British victory turned the tide i

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British night artillery barrage which opened the second Battle of El Alamein

Ordnance QF 25-pounder
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The Ordnance QF 25-pounder, or more simply 25-pounder or 25-pdr, was the major British field gun and howitzer during World War II. It was introduced into service just before the war started, combining high-angle and direct-fire, relatively high rates of fire, and it remained the British Armys primary artillery field piece well into the 1960s, with

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A 25-pounder field gun and limber being towed by a Morris Commercial "Quad", crossing a pontoon bridge at Slaght Bridge in Antrim, Northern Ireland, 26 June 1942.

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"Normal" cartridge arrangements

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Display of 25-pounder shells and cases. Left to right: smoke, armour-piercing (pre-1955 UK markings), HE (RDX/TNT, strange markings), HE (Amatol, pre-1955 UK markings), smoke (pre-1955 UK markings). Although some shells are shown in the cases, the shell and the case were separate items.

Logistics
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Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general sense, logistics is the management of the flow of things between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet requirements of customers or corporations. The resources managed in logistics can include items such as food, mate

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Configuring and managing warehouses is a central concern for both business logistics and military logistics.

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Logistics Specialist inventories supplies in a storeroom aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, where inventorying means making a report on stock availability. Notice how every stock keeping unit has an individual code and a code corresponding to a specific subclass from a given drawer.

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A forklift truck loads a pallet of humanitarian aid to Pakistan on board a C-17 aircraft, following devastating floods in the country in 2010.

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Punjab Regiment uses mules for carrying cargo in Burma during WWII. Animals have been used for logistic purposes by different people throughout history, the Roman army in particular preferred mules over donkeys for their moving capacity.

North African Campaign
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The North African Campaign of the Second World War took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco, the campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had colonial interests in Africa dating from the late 19th century. The Allied war ef

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A British Crusader tank passes a burning German Pz.Kpfw.IV tank during Operation Crusader, 27 November 1941.

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German prisoners captured during the Second Battle of El Alamein, November 1942

Italian Campaign (World War II)
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The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. It is estimated that between September 1943 and April 1945, some 60, 000–70,000 Allied and 60, overall Allied casualties during the campaign totaled about 320,000 and the corresponding German figure was well over 60

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Artillery being landed during the invasion of mainland Italy at Salerno, September 1943.

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American soldiers of the U.S. 92nd Infantry Division fire a bazooka at a German machine gun nest, Lucca 1944

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The situation south of Rome showing German prepared defensive lines

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Canadian sniper at the Battle of Ortona.

3rd Division (United Kingdom)
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The 3rd Division, known at various times as the Iron Division, 3rd Division, Montys Iron Sides or as Iron Sides, is a regular army division of the British Army. The division is sometimes referred to as the Iron Division. The divisions other battle honours include, the Battle of Waterloo, the Crimean War, the Second Boer War and it was commanded for

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Men of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, advancing through a wheat field during the final assault on Caen.

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Insignia of the 3rd Division

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Men of the 1st Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment in action in the Netherlands, November 1944

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A memorial to the 3rd Division in Caen which commemorates the division's participation in the D-Day landing on 6 June 1944, and its role in the liberation of Caen on 9 July 1944.

50th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)
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The 50th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that saw distinguished service in the Second World War. Pre-war, the division was part of the Territorial Army and the two Ts in the divisional insignia represent the three rivers of its recruitment area, namely the rivers Tyne, Tees and Humber. The 50th Division was one of two

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The Battle of Gazala in May 1942, in the vicinity of Tobruk

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Insignia of the 50th Division

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Map of the Allied landings in Sicily on 10 July 1943

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Universal Carrier of 50th Division wades ashore D-Day 6 June 1944.

3rd Canadian Division
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The 3rd Canadian Division is a formation of the Canadian Army. It was first created as a formation of the Canadian Corps during the First World War and it was stood down following the war and was later reactivated as the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division during the Second World War. The second iteration served with distinction from 1941 to 1945, takin

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Canadian soldiers headed for Juno Beach aboard LCAs

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3rd Canadian Division formation patch

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Canadian Soldiers landing on Juno beach from an LCA

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Canadian Troops land at 'Nan White' Beach at Bernières-sur-Mer

Invasion of Normandy
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The Western Allies of World War II launched the largest amphibious invasion in history when they assaulted Normandy, located on the northern coast of France, on 6 June 1944. The invaders were able to establish a beachhead as part of Operation Overlord after a successful D-Day, Allied land forces came from the United States, Britain, Canada, and Fre

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Into the Jaws of Death by Robert F. Sargent. Assault craft land one of the first waves at Omaha Beach. The U.S. Coast Guard caption identifies the unit as Company E, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division.

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U.S. soldiers march through Weymouth, Dorset en route to board landing ships for the invasion of France.

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D-day assault routes into Normandy.

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Off Omaha Beach, American Liberty ships – 'Corn Cobs' were scuttled to provide a makeshift breakwater during the early days of the invasion.

Battle of Meiktila
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The concurrent Battle of Meiktila and Battle of Mandalay were decisive engagements near the end of the Burma Campaign. Collectively, they are referred to as the Battle of Central Burma. Despite logistical difficulties, the Allies were able to large armoured and mechanised forces in Central Burma. Most of the Japanese forces in Burma were destroyed

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Sherman tanks and trucks of 63rd Motorised Brigade advancing from Nyaungyu to Meiktila, March 1945

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Series of maps showing the progress of the battles and their relation to the South East Asian theatre of war

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6/ 7th Rajput Regiment and tanks attack near Meiktila

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A Burmese family living in a dug-out share tea with a British soldier in Meiktila, 10 March 1945.

Kangaroo (armoured personnel carrier)
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A Kangaroo was a Second World War Commonwealth or British armoured personnel carrier, created by converting a tank chassis. Created as an expedient measure by the Canadian Army, Kangaroos were so successful that they were soon being used by British forces and they were frst used on 8 August 1944 south of Caen during Operation Totalize to supplement

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Infantry of the 53rd (Welsh) Division in a Ram Kangaroo of the 49th Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment, on the outskirts of Ochtrup, Germany, 3 April 1945

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Ram Kangaroo at The Tank Museum, Bovington

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A postwar Churchill Kangaroo viewed from the rear corner

Armoured personnel carrier
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An armoured personnel carrier is a type of armoured fighting vehicle designed to transport infantry to the battlefield. APCs are colloquially referred to as taxis or battle buses. Armoured personnel carriers are distinguished from infantry fighting vehicles by the weaponry they carry, by convention, they are not intended to take part in direct-fire

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A M113, one of the most common tracked APCs, during the Vietnam War

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The British Mark IX tank was the first specialised armoured personnel carrier.

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Czechoslovak and Polish OT-64 SKOT

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Namer APC is the most heavily armored vehicle in the world according to the IDF.

Battle for Cebu City
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The Battle for Cebu City was a major engagement of World War II that occurred between March 26 and April 8,1945, during the second Philippines Campaign. The battle resulted in an Allied victory over the occupying Japanese Army, after launching their campaign to recapture the Philippines at Leyte in October 1944, the Allies followed up that victory

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US troops riding on an M7 Priest enter Cebu City

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US troops land on Cebu on March 26, 1945

The Battle of the Bulge
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The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive campaign of World War II. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, the surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. American forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred their highest casualties of any operation duri

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American soldiers of the 117th Infantry Regiment, Tennessee National Guard, part of the 30th Infantry Division, move past a destroyed American M5 "Stuart" tank on their march to recapture the town of St. Vith during the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945.

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Paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division dropping on Grave, during Operation Market Garden, September 1944.

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Situation on the Western Front as of 15 December 1944

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Sepp Dietrich led the Sixth Panzer Army in the northernmost attack route.

Six Day War
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The Six-Day War, also known as the June War,1967 Arab–Israeli War, or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10,1967 by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Relations between Israel and its neighbours had never fully normalised following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, in the period leading up to June 1967, tensi

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Israeli troops examine destroyed Egyptian aircraft.

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Territory held by Israel before and after the Six Day War. The Straits of Tiran are circled, between the Gulf of Aqaba to the north and the Red Sea to the south.

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Dassault Mirage at the Israeli Air Force Museum. Operation Focus was mainly conducted using French built aircraft.

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Conquest of Sinai. June 5–6, 1967

War of Attrition
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Attrition warfare is a military strategy consisting of belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and materiel. The war will usually be won by the side with such resources. The word attrition comes from the Latin root atterere to rub against, military theorists and str

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French troopers using periscope, 1915

Yom Kippur War
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The fighting mostly took place in the Sinai and the Golan Heights, territories that had been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat wanted also to reopen the Suez Canal, neither specifically planned to destroy Israel, although the Israeli leaders could not be sure of that. Egyptian and Syrian forces crossed

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Egyptian forces crossing the Suez Canal on October 7

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Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

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Upon learning of the impending attack, Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir made the controversial decision not to launch a pre-emptive strike.

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Wreckage from an Egyptian Sukhoi Su-7 shot down over the Sinai on October 6 on display at the Israeli Air Force Museum.

Golan Heights
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The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan or the Syrian Golan, is a region in the Levant. As a geopolitical region, the Golan Heights is the area captured from Syria and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War and this region includes the western two-thirds of the geological Golan Heights, as well as the Israeli-occupied part of Mount Hermon. The ea

M4 Sherman
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The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most numerous battle tank used by the United States and some of the other Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, thousands were distributed through the Lend-Lease program to the British Commonwealth and Soviet Union. The tank was named by

1.
Clockwise from top: A column of the U.S. 1st Marine Division 's infantry and armor moves through Chinese lines during their breakout from the Chosin Reservoir; UN landing at Incheon harbor, starting point of the Battle of Incheon; Korean refugees in front of an American M26 Pershing tank; U.S. Marines, led by First Lieutenant Baldomero Lopez, landing at Incheon; F-86 Sabre fighter aircraft

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Three Koreans shot for pulling up rails as a protest against seizure of land without payment by the Japanese